Syndicate
by Acidika
Summary: Two years after the Neo-Umbrella incidents, while everything generally seems back to how they should be, an unfortunate discovery by Tobias leads to a darkly veiled, formerly forgotten choice. The choice to create an army for himself. The problem was... his army didn't fade into the shadows like they'd been expected to do... They had been there from the very start.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Welcome to the third and final installment of my now aptly named Darkwood series. This will be the final story of the main storyline of the series, even though my non-canon short-story compilation "Darkwood" will still be continued during and even after the writing process of Syndicate. On that note, I should explain a couple details concerning this story; First, this takes place almost exactly two years after the events of Yuki-Onna. Yuuki and Rachael are now 17 years old, and nearing the end of their final year of high school. Second, this story is a crossover. Primarily (and officially listed as) Resident Evil and Tokyo Ghoul, but I added in Jormungand elements in Silence, then added Ghost In The Shell during Yuki-Onna. As such, I am officially declaring that Syndicate will be a four-way crossover between the respective franchises. Which leads me to my final comment...**

 **All rights to the respective characters taken from Resident Evil, Ghost In The Shell, Jormungand and Tokyo Ghoul, belong to their respective copyright holders and/or creators. No infringement was intended in creating this series of stories, it was created by a fan for entertainment purposes only.**

 **With that out of the way, I now bid you welcome... to Syndicate.**

* * *

"It's been nineteen years since the destruction of Raccoon City, the site of the world's first taste of bioterrorism brought about by the now infamous T-Virus, created by the once globe-spanning Umbrella Corporation. Yet here I stand, coming face to face with a startling new discovery that seemingly appeared overnight." The news reporter stood aside to reveal the flawless ice plaque resting on the ground, many people knew the only person capable of such a thing, but only about a dozen people on the planet knew when the plaque was actually placed... Two years earlier.

"Hey, Jonah, did I hear that right?" Koko Heckmatyar peered around the hotel's bathroom door to find her youngest and most loyal bodyguard staring at the television with narrowed eyes and a thoughtful expression. "Did they finally find Tobias' plaque?"

"Seems that way. Not like we met him in a secluded spot that day." Jonah replied, remembering his naive crush on Captain Tobias' younger daughter, Rachael. He'd grown out of it since then, but none of Koko's crew, himself included, had failed to notice him creating the plaque of ice before joining them for coffees.

"True." Koko returned to getting herself ready for the day's business meeting. "I'll be ready in... two minutes, are you good to go?"

* * *

"So, it's almost been twenty years, why don't you stop denying all your promotions, Captain?" Piers was bouncing a tennis ball at his desk, watching Tobias and Chris write a report about their most recent mission, which was a false alarm in Texas.

"In my opinion, rank has nothing to do with authority and respect. If I was a Commander and treated you like shit, than those stars wouldn't mean jack shit, now would they?" Tobias replied, still writing without looking up. "Add in the fact I'm one of the original twelve founders of the BSAA, and I think it's fair to say I have enough authority already, so a promotion is even more meaningless to me."

"Now I'm not judging or anything, sir... but I have to ask a question that's been bugging me for a bit. Permission to speak freely sir?"

"Go ahead, Piers." Tobias stopped his report and looked his team's sniper right in the face. "Insults are permitted too."

"Well, it's come to my attention from unreliable sources that you were the one to release the T-Virus onto the citizens of Raccoon City, sir. Something about a revenge plot on Albert Wesker and Umbrella." Piers spoke frankly about the rumour he'd heard several times. "Now, correct me if I'm wrong... but doesn't that make you a bioterrorist, Class One?"

"Class Zero, actually." Chris spoke up, joining the conversation as Tobias chuckled. "A non-disclosed ranking, only for him, that decrees his bioterrorism actions are the initial cause and subsequent remedy of the affiliated bioterror incident. Because of his actions in shedding light on the subject of bioterrorism, his punishment was his own idea, and that being he must obey a very specific, top secret order by the BSAA."

"Which is...?" Piers asked, ceasing his tennis ball bouncing to lean forward and stare Tobias right in the face.

"Once the threat of bioterrorism is completely wiped from the planet, I must murder my entire family, the Birkin family, Jake Muller, and then commit suicide. The specific order he meant is 'Eliminate all traces of the T-Virus from the planet', so that means I die. Rize dies. Yuuki, Rachael, Alice, Mishka, Sere, Kaneki, Sherry, Jake, William, Annette... every one of us carries a bioweapon, some of us carry two, or even three... and that means we all die."

"Fuck..." Piers didn't expect that as the answer to his questions. "Do any of them know?"

"We all do, Piers. We know we're threats to humanity, so there's no need to have a speech or remind ourselves with a sticky note, ' _hey, FYI, you're a monster. You gotta die soon. Also, pick up the dry cleaning at 4_ '." Alice's voice came from the doorway of the shared offices, startling the sniper since his was the only back turned. "Hey, Toby, Yuuki's here. She needs to talk to you, says it's important."

"How important?" Tobias' voice hinted concern. Yuuki and Rachael were nearly 18, so if it was important, they called him directly. Something was wrong if she was coming in person.

"Like, holy shit I'm fucking scared, Dad." Yuuki's voice came from behind Alice, and Tobias immediately stood up upon detecting the fear in Yuuki's voice.

"C'mon, let's head to my office." Tobias followed his mother and older daughter into the office at the other side of the hall, closing the door behind himself as he noticed Yuuki was wringing her hands together and was slightly pale. "Alright, let's start by sitting down, Yuuki."

Alice and Yuuki sat in the two chairs before his desk, and of course, he took his own chair across.

"'Kay, so... remember how Wesker injected me with the C-Virus and all that happy horse shit?" Yuuki's hands were shaking whenever she wasn't clenching them together. "I think it fucked me up more than just my Kakuja..."

"What do you mean by that?" Tobias was obviously concerned for her, but he needed more information.

Yuuki didn't respond right away, she reached into the pocket of her biker jacket and withdrew something that made both Alice and Tobias raise an eyebrow.

It was a wrapped package, which they both recognized as Rize's leftover human flesh. It wasn't all that big of a deal, it even showed signs that Yuuki'd eaten a few pieces already.

"This isn't mom's leftovers... It was Jake's sandwich from this morning." To prove her shocking words, Yuuki unwrapped the brown paper to reveal a large bite was indeed removed from the very human meal. "That's my bite."

"Are you alright?" Tobias couldn't fault anyone for this; Jake had asked Rize to put the sandwich in their fridge (which contained a stockpile of flesh, wrapped in this exact brown paper) and both of them had been temporarily distracted, so in the confusion, the sandwich had been put in with the flesh and blended in.

"That's the problem... I'm _fine_!" Yuuki didn't even hesitate as she bit the sandwich and tore off a piece, chewing and swallowing it without even a hint of a gag, like any normal Ghoul would've done when ingesting human foods. " _See?!_ I can eat human food!"

* * *

"Are you sure this isn't my fault?" Jake was nervous, but Yuuki's nod was enough for him to finally relax. "So... what'd you think? Taste good?"

"The hell was in that sandwich?" Yuuki indicated the nearby piece of half eaten food. "I think there's still a few pieces stuck in my teeth."

"Ham and cheddar with some mustard." Jake replied. "I take it you don't like it?"

"I was too busy panicking to worry about the taste." Yuuki sighed, then spoke to her twin standing in the doorway. "Rachael, it's not just me. You can too."

"Then we have some experimenting to do..." Rachael leaned her arm on the doorway to the kitchen where Jake and Yuuki were standing at the counter. "Should we bring a few people?"

"Wait, you want to go out and get some human food?" Yuuki raised an eyebrow. "I mean, yeah, it's worth trying and all... but who'd want to join us?"

"I would." Jake smiled as he spoke up. "I figure there's bound to be a few things you two'd like to try... right?"

Yuuki and Rachael shared a brief glance, then in perfect unison they said.

" _Bacon._ "

* * *

Stella's eyes glinted with a very cheeky smile, her metal jaw resting on the back of her raised hand as she watched the twins briefly hesitate before taking a piece of bacon from their shared plate.

"Itadakimasu!" Both of them gave their usual food blessing before taking a bite of the highly praised meat.

"Well?" Motoko was also quite interested in the C-Virus' effects on them. Sure, she'd learned about the normal events of a Ghoul eating human foods, but since they had not one but two Virus' in their bodies, it was surprisingly cute to see them chewing bacon with transitioning facial expressions.

"It's good..." Rachael spoke first as she swallowed the piece.

"But not as good as we've come to expect." Yuuki finished the sentence as she finished the whole strip of bacon. "Overhyped, but still good."

"Are there any parts of the human body that compare to bacon?" Stella asked, still smiling.

"Not really." Yuuki shook her head a bit. "Well, raw bacon, yeah. Some muscles in the thigh come close to raw bacon."

"So, tell me... What's the best tasting part of the human body?" Stella continued, still quite interested in the rarely heard of details about Ghouls. "In your opinions, of course."

"I really like eating the heart." Rachael tapped her chest with her index finger, while Yuuki smiled and let out a low chuckle.

"But cock tastes so much better, Rachael. And there's that lovely _sauce_ inside too." Yuuki switched to Japanese, having noticed a few people in the restaurant had been glancing over at them. "The heart's all messy and it's really hard to get it out to eat... but flash some tits, give'im a little wink and he can't get his dick out fast enough... Or hers, right Motoko?"

"How is Jake handling all of this? You mentioned it was his sandwich that sparked the revelation." Motoko didn't take Yuuki's bait, instead she imitated her wife's pose and rested her jaw onto the back of her hand.

"He was scared, for a bit anyway. Now he's trying to figure out what kinds of food we'd like. Him and Sherry are out shopping for our dinner right now." Yuuki replied, well aware that Motoko had ignored her teasing. The problem with Motoko was getting her to pick up on the flirting was easy, it was getting her to give a response that was the big issue.

And the fact that her wife was sitting right beside her, that clearly had an effect on her resolve too.

* * *

"Right this way, Captain." The guard gestured to the heavy steel door, which buzzed to allow Tobias to walk right through and into the cellblock. Lining the room, all in bright orange jumpsuits, were prisoners of various crimes related to bioterrorism.

The entire cellblock was silent. Few of the prisoners didn't know who he was when he stood in the middle of the floorspace, likewise silent for several long moments until he spoke up.

"You know who I am, what I am, But not why I am here." Tobias spoke in a commanding tone, his powerful voice effortlessly filling the room with pure authority. "So allow me to ask... Why am I here?" Tobias paused, scanning the inmates for necessary signs. "Someone among you anonymously requested my presence to inform me of vital information. So who is it? You have ten seconds to step forward or speak up, otherwise I will authorize a month of heightened enforcement, effective immediately."

A ringing silence occurred, then one inmate did indeed spoke up... Ricardo Irving.

"I got something that might interest'cha, Cap'n... It's about'cha lovely little girls..."

With barely more than a glance, Tobias had Irving levitating in front of him with Telekinesis in an instant.

"A simple phone call would've saved me the speech, Irving." Tobias wasn't amused, but in light of the recent dietary incident with Yuuki - and Rachael, by proxy - he was being careful. So, in less then two minutes they were in an interrogation room; Irving had a pad of paper, a pen, glass of water, and Tobias' undivided attention.

"Dat crazy blonde ain't hidin' in here too, is she?" Irving was rightfully concerned, but Tobias shook his head. Serenity wasn't in the BSAA prison, she was in LA working at her primary job as a tattoo artist.

"I came alone, considering that I am on duty, and in uniform." Tobias glared at Irving to proceed with his intel. "So speak up, what is this intel about my daughters you wanted to tell me?"

"It's about the C-Virus." Irving wasn't handcuffed, so he was talking with his hands quite a bit. "Bit of information you should probably be shortly aware of, concerning your girls... The Virus has a delayed side-effect, y'see... It neutralizes that Ghoul enzyme that prevents youse guys from eating human foods."

"Elaborate." Tobias knew that it was nearly two years to the day for when Yuuki had been administered the C-Virus, so thus far, Irving's info was on the money.

"Well, y'see... Some of them files I had over in Africa, they got left behind, y'know. Not all of the research notes made it back... But!" Irving held up his hands instinctively, even though Tobias hadn't reacted. "But... I read them over, y'see... and it was concerning the Ghoul related effects of the C-Virus, and, like I was sayin'... Your girls can eat food, but that's not all! They can still eat flesh, human or Ghoul, and coffee, and water. Ya litte angels aren't restricted anymore! All the notes, y'see, they said that of the few that survived that long, after two years with the C-Virus in 'em, some Ghoul test subjects were able to eat human food alongside their rations of flesh, y'see... So that spurred a side project for the C-Virus program, and of course, it was confirmed."

Tobias didn't react for several seconds after Irving had finished speaking. He was thinking it over, figuring out how best to explain the information into terms his daughters would understand.

"Is that everything?" Tobias finally spoke, and Irving nodded. "Alright, wait here. I will be right back."

Tobias left the room, then went into the adjacent observation room where Yuuki and Rachael had heard everything over the open phone line from his cellphone.

"What do you think, girls? Think he earned himself a reward?" Tobias asked in Japanese.

"No." Yuuki's derisive snort clearly meant she didn't think Irving had earned anything. "He barely deserves that glass of water, in my opinion."

"Rachael?" Tobias knew she was listening, probably thinking quietly at the moment. "Your thoughts?"

"Well, we already figured that it was from the C-Virus, so having the in depth details isn't really much in the way of earning a reward... But, he did cooperate the whole time, so maybe try giving Koko a call, see what she thinks about giving him a reward. I mean, she was the one that confirmed his location before he made it State side."

"Alright, I'll see if I can get ahold of her. She is overseas afterall." Tobias ended the call to his daughters and tapped the arms dealer's name in his contact list.

* * *

Koko's day had already ended, she'd sealed a missile deal and secured a very well paying, brand new ammunition delivery contract for the end of the week from HQ. So, she and the rest of her crew were enjoying a calm evening on a private beach, all in swimwear, and all with at least two alcoholic drinks in their systems and another one in hand or at their elbow.

Koko was just cuddling with Jonah in the same beach chair when her nearby satellite phone rang in a series of electronic beeps. She opened one eye, then slowly reached for the device and blinked once behind her large sunglasses. She recognized the number. "Koko speaking."

"Hello, Koko, am I interrupting you at all?" Tobias' heavy accent came through the line, and Jonah glanced up at the device in her hand upon catching the sound of his voice.

"Not at all, Tobias. How may I help you?" Koko was calm, it didn't sound like Tobias was calling for something important, considering the tone of his voice.

"To keep the explanation short, I've just had a conversation with Ricardo Irving that went very well. He gave me some intel, and I believe he's earned himself a small reward for his cooperation."

"Let me guess... Yuuki said no?" Koko's seeming awareness made Jonah narrow his scarlet eyes suspiciously.

"And Rachael suggested asking you, that's right." Tobias chuckled, letting Koko hum in thought for a moment.

"Hang on, I'll consult with the crew. I'll call you right back once we make our decision." Koko seemed pleased by the idea, so Tobias gave his affirmation before ending the call. "Front and center!" Koko called the whole crew over to her in a loud voice, and when they joined her, she explained the request.

"So, wait, the girls already said no?" Lutz asked, confused by the details.

"Just Yuuki, Rachael said to ask us." Valmet explained. "I think Irving doesn't really deserve much more than a small snack at most... Like a cookie or an apple."

"That's reasonable." Lehm, Wiley and R all nodded in agreement.

"He shouldn't get a reward, he's in prison!" Tojo raised an eyebrow at the ridiculous idea. "And definitely not a cookie!"

"But he did give intel to the Captain, after all... Might as well get _something_ for it." Mao shrugged. "He doesn't get anything big, so I think Valmet's apple idea is probably the best we've got."

"So... just an apple?" Koko already had the phone in hand as her faithful crew of bodyguards each nodded in agreement. "Alright, I'll let him know, you can go back to what you were doing."

"Hello again, Koko. Has the crew reached an agreement?" Tobias answered on the second ring.

"We think he has earned an apple as a snack, that's the best we could come up with that wouldn't go to his head or be coveted by the other inmates." Koko explained, which earned a chuckle from Tobias.

"I can arrange that. Thank you for the assistance, do svidaniya, Koko." Tobias bade her goodbye and she hung up, returning to cuddling her pouting lover.

"It's just a snack, Jonah. He doesn't deserve it in the grand scheme of things, but it is his reward for cooperating with giving that intel to Tobias." Koko nuzzled the top of Jonah's silvery hair - similar to Tobias and the twins, but without that distracting sparkling aspect - which was followed by a kiss on his forehead.

"It's not that... Why don't you call him Toby?" Jonah had met the Captain several times in the past two years - mostly on R&R trips to America, but also three or four times for weapons related business with Koko, including weapons expo's - but not once did he hear Koko calling him such, even though a few people did.

"That's because I haven't earned it yet, Jonah. Calling him Toby is a very special privilege, simple as that." Koko explained with her usual warm smile, reserved just for Jonah.


	2. Chapter 2

"Two White Russians, coming right up!"

The bar was packed, absolutely bustling with clattering utensils, jovial conversation, laughter and of course, orders for new drinks.

Yuuki was the one that took the order, quickly putting it into the customer's tab in the POS system while Rachael effortlessly got the pair of drinks ready right behind her.

With fluid ease, Rachael slid one over to her twin as Yuuki turned back to the bar, already putting the last touches on the drink in perfect sync with her sister. In seconds, they were ready, and in the customer's hands.

"Another round, ladies!"

Once again, a new drink order came in, and this time it was just bottles of beer, so Yuuki grabbed them from the cooling fridge while Rachael flawlessly slid behind her to put it into the POS.

"Cheers, guys!" Yuuki grinned at the group of college students as she deposited the bottles' caps into a bin under the bar. "These are going to the Fallout funds!"

The guys laughed, knowing that the ever-present collection of beer bottle caps generated by the bar was affectionately nicknamed the Fallout funds, in reference to a post-apocalyptic video game series with the same name that used bottle caps as currency.

"Evening ladies! Busy tonight, eh?" A regular customer came into the bar, noticing the din of noise even from outside.

"Hey Ted, crazy busy tonight!" Rachael was already grabbing his usual drink while Yuuki placed his tab and favourite food order.

"Table six is free, Ted. Food's already in the system." Yuuki waved and smiled at the older man, who nodded in reply with his own warm smile before taking a seat at the proper table.

"So, ladies, what's it like working here?" One of the college guys was leaning his forearms on the edge of the bar, a burger and fries sitting partially eaten lay atop and a bottle of beer beside his hand. "Must be really hectic with just the two of you handling the bar, right?"

"Definitely better than our last job. I swear to god that woman was just _trying_ to start World War Four." Yuuki frowned at the memory of their first job, six months earlier. "And to think when we found the ad, we both said the damn job wasn't worth our damn time."

"A most eloquent ' _Fuck that_ ' was our choice of wording." Rachael added with a smirk.

"What happened?" The guy asked, munching on a couple of his fries. "Doesn't sound like it was good."

"Some batty old bitch didn't like how I was doing my job, so she demands my manager..." Yuuki explained, indicating Rachael with her thumb, who had indeed been the assistant manager at the time. "And almost immediately lost her shit when she saw my sister, so she started screaming at the top of her lungs that we were hurting her."

"What was your job?" He asked, his eyebrows knitting together in thought.

"Cashier, Rachael got up to assistant manager because she's the more polite twin. I was fine with cashier until that broad got us both up against the wall like that." Yuuki explained. "She threatened to sue the store and have us thrown in jail. Neither of us touched her. At all."

"So did you two quit, or were you fired?"

"We both quit." Rachael chuckled knowingly, and Yuuki smiled. "And then we followed her back home with her _free_ groceries and we ate her. Right down to the bone. CCG knocked on our front door the next day, holding the note we'd left stuck to the bitch's skull."

"Wait, what?" The guy was confused, and of course, the twins knew why. Sure, their eyes were easily mistaken for contacts - and they sometimes went along with that lie, for convenience - but the fact remained that this guy wasn't local, probably from a small town just outside of LA to come in for his education.

"You don't know our full names, the nametags only say the first letter and our first names. We're the Darkwood sisters... We're T-Ghouls." Yuuki laughed at the shocked expression on his face. All of the regulars knew, but the non-locals or newcomers had no clue in the slightest, unless they were members of their Spiderling fanbase.

"It's alright, that's not our jurisdiction. You're eating cow, not human." Rachael teasingly pointed at his burger. "We just pour the drinks and look sexy, food's not our problem."

* * *

At the end of the night, as the last few stragglers were finishing their drinks, Yuuki and Rachael were cleaning up the bar when their boss came out of the kitchen at the back with a warm smile at his two youngest employee's.

"Ladies, how'd things go up front tonight? Those college kids just got out of their finals, so it makes for good business."

"Saw your daughter come in about two hours ago, she had a couple of her girlfriends with her." Yuuki replied as she jotted down her inventory. "Had fun messing with one guy, he was a fresh face, asked about our last job... So we told him the whole story and he went almost as white as paper."

"How about behaviour? Were there anyone that had to be tossed out?" Their boss smiled, remembering his own first time hearing the story of their last job. He also went pale when they told him, but now it was an amusement.

"Not really, bunch of them were just having fun, no fights tonight." Rachael was collecting cutlery and plates from the bar and putting them into a plastic bin in her arms. "I still gotta ask... It's just the two of us behind the bar, sir, do we really need a baseball bat under the bar? We're literally living weapons, that stick's useless compared to our Kagune and all our powers, not to mention all of the training we've got from our dad."

"I understand, Rachael, but it's been there since I opened the place. So it's partly sentimental, partly contingency. By all means, use what you've got. Me personally, on the other hand, I'm going for ol' faithful if trouble brews."

"Ray, to be fair, a bat can still hurt even us." Yuuki piped up as the last customer bade them goodnight and left the bar. "Not a lot, but definitely enough to get our attention."

"Which is exactly why I use it, ha ha!" Their boss laughed at the commentary, and Rachael sighed in defeat.

"At least do me a favour and get an aluminium one at some point. ' _Two girls, one Bat_ ' sounds like a fucked up porn title." Rachael took the loaded bin back to the kitchen as Yuuki likewise finished up her inventory and closed the binder.

"I've seen and heard worse!" She called over her shoulder in English, but Rachael's reply through the kitchen's door was in Russian.

"Knowing you, I'm _not_ surprised!"

* * *

"LAPD, state your emergency." The police operator on the line spoke with a clear voice.

"I'm reporting a murder, I was just told the details... They ate some old woman!" The college boy from earlier that evening was waiting across the street from the bar, where Yuuki and Rachael were still finishing up their tasks of closing the bar.

With an audible sigh, the police operator spoke again, clearly from a prepared statement. "Sir, if the person that told you this has glittering silver hair and solid glowing eyes, then you are referring to either Yuuki or Rachael Darkwood, pertaining to an incident from six months ago. That is not a police matter, nor for the CCG. The family has special diplomatic immunity regarding their Ghoul predatory and or bioweapon aggressive habits. Thank you, and goodnight."

The line went dead, and the guy's shock took a while to wear off. When he did come back to his senses, he spotted the twins leaving the bar, both walking towards their nearby bikes, both of which were black 2008 Kawasaki Ninja ZX6R's. To set them apart from each other, the frame of the wheels were red and blue, plus the small windshield's were likewise tinted to match.

Making a snap decision, he marched across the street, reaching into his pocket to grab his butterfly knife. But, as he withdrew the weapon and twirled it open, his drunk mind completely went black.

* * *

Yuuki and Rachael heard the screech of the truck's tires right before a loud thump and crunching of bones forced them to see the accident. Rachael immediately gasped, having recognized the guy from earlier that asked about their last job.

Yuuki however, ran up to the truck and latched onto the door, having spotted the panicking driver putting the vehicle into reverse to drive away.

"Park it or I'll do it for you." Yuuki snarled, and the driver immediately complied, stepping out while Rachael called 911.

"I didn't even see him, it was just... so sudden!" The driver was distraught, and Yuuki had noticed the fear in his eyes. "I swear!"

"Sit on the curb, shut up, and stay put." Yuuki grabbed him by the shoulders, inhaling through her nose to check if he had been drinking, but couldn't smell any. He smelled of cheap coffee and - what she now recognized the scent of - fast food.

With that, Yuuki crouched down to check the college guy for vitals. As she pressed her fingers under his jaw, she noticed he had a butterfly knife laying a couple inches from his hand... with a Quinque Steel blade.

Knowing the risks, she swiped the knife and tucked it between her cleavage as she stood up and made a cutting motion with her hand at her neck towards Rachael. He was dead.

* * *

"Thank you, ladies. Are you sure you didn't see him walking out into the street?" The cop that had been taking theirs and the driver's statements asked one last time.

"I had my back turned." Yuuki repeated her words, and Rachael nodded.

"I was looking at my phone, we just heard the crash and went to help."

"Alright, thank you. You can head home now." The cop clicked his pen and nodded for them to go back to their bikes. Of course, their boss had also been questioned, and he admitted to have seen the guy in passing when he was seated at the bar. The girls had given them the guy's receipts, and he was clearly drunk off his ass when he'd walked out of the bar ten minutes before closing time.

Once they were headed home, Rachael spoke up over the intercom in their helmets. "Fucked up as it sounds... Being near his corpse got me hungry."

"Took you long enough!" Yuuki sighed, having been rather proud of how well she contained her hungry drooling the entire time. "I'm the one drooling and it took you until _now_ to speak up!? You fuckin' pay for the food!"

* * *

"Nineteen years of research, and we've finally succeeded. With this, they don't stand a chance." An accented voice spoke from the shadows just beyond the faint glow of the stasis capsule that contained thick blue liquid encompassing a young tenager with glittering silver hair. "Isn't that right... _Valentine_?"


	3. Chapter 3

"So... why do you have a balisong in your cleavage?" Rize stood with her arms crossed as her daughters came home from work a bit later than usual.

"I'll explain, just gimme a second." Yuuki held up her free hand while she extracted the butterfly knife from her boob canyon. "Okay... so, there was a guy at the bar earlier, he was asking about our last job and yeah, we told him the whole story. After work, as we were about to hop on our bikes to leave, we hear someone get hit by a car behind us, so we turn around, it's that guy. I go check him, he's fucked... but I saw the knife was near one of his hands, and his phone's in the other, so I put two and two together; he tried to report us to the police like those other idiots have been doing since we started telling the story, but he got their speech thing and tried to take matters into his own hands and got smoked by a truck."

"So you took the knife... why?" Rize followed the whole story but still didn't see how the knife fit into it.

"'Cause he was gonna try to kill us while he was drunk off his ass. Call it Karma, but I rewrote his final moments from 'bad idea' to 'bad luck' instead." Yuuki flipped the knife open, revealing the Quinque Steel blade. "It's a decent looking knife, in all honesty."

"Not really, it's a bit rusty." Rachael pointed at the small patches of rust growing in the frame. "And it's a bit dull too." She also checked the blade, not caring that her finger started to bleed from it. It regenerate within a few seconds.

"Fine." Rize sighed in defeat. "Clean it, sharpen it, do whatever you want with it. But you practice with it _outside_ , is that understood?"

"I sense experience on the matter." Tobias' chuckle came from the living room.

"I broke a window at Umbrella with a balisong I picked up during Raccoon City's destruction. I got too cocky with it, okay?" Rize also held up her hands, admitting her rather amusing failure with the weapon.

"Somehow I'm not surprised." Tobias' tone clearly denoted he was trying not to crack a smile. Trying and clearly failing.

* * *

The next morning, while the girls were getting ready for school and Tobias was talking on the phone to Koko, there was a knock at the front door, so Rize, the only one not occupied, answered it, only to glance down and see a very startling sight standing in front of her.

Koko heard Rize's panicked scream over the phone, and politely said. "I'll call you back, Tobias. Sound's important."

"Thank you, Koko." Tobias didn't like the sound of his wife's scream, so he hung up and unholstered Silence as he entered the foyer to find her covering her mouth with one hand, her gaze locked on the opened front door. "You alright?"

" _Shoot him_!" Rize didn't even explain, she just pointed at the door as she backed away. "I don't care, just _shoot_!"

Tobias' eyes narrowed. Something wasn't right, so he gripped the door handle with one hand, the other holding his gun at the ready before pulling it open and scowling at the sight before him.

"Start talking, kid." Tobias already knew this wasn't one of Serenity's illusions, the kid was making sounds - including a heartbeat - which her Photokinesis could not manipulate.

"Valentine." The silver haired, rather androgynous boy, clearly carrying the T-Virus since his hair glittered like Tobias', spoke up, staring Tobias right in the face. "My name is Valentine. I was told you're my dad, and she's my mom."

"Who told you that?" Tobias' grip on his gun hadn't faltered, something wasn't right.

"If I knew, wouldn't I have told you that up front?" Valentine replied sassily, but Tobias clicked the hammer back on his gun.

"No attitude, kid. Alright then... How did you get here?" Tobias glanced up and down the street, but there were no vehicles. The kid walked here, for sure.

"I walked the last bit, but I took a taxi." Valentine sighed. "Someone woke me up, said to come here, and gave me the money for the taxi. I don't remember anything else before that."

"Alright, kid, I'll keep it simple for you..." Tobias crouched down and stared him right in the icy blue eyes. "You're a clone, most likely created using my DNA. Now, there's two things I can do: First, as my wife said; I kill you."

"Second: You look into my creation, find who is responsible and act accordingly. I know, I'm not stupid." Valentine scowled. "I got nothing, all the money's gone, I have this outfit and nothing else! My pockets are empty, I never saw the person's face, and I highly doubt you have much to investigate with under these criteria."

"You're right, I don't... But I do have something in mind." Tobias glanced over his shoulder as Rize finally recovered from her shock and stood behind her kneeling husband with a frown on her face.

"He reminds me of your mother."

"I know." Tobias replied, turning back to Valentine with a serious expression. "Valentine, you know what a Ghoul is?"

"No, I don't." Valentine shook his head, which earned a sigh from Tobias.

"Well, shit." Tobias retracted the hammer on his gun and reholstered it. "Alright, things are about to get interesting, all over again." He stood up and held the door open. "Alright, inside. We've got a lot to talk about."

That action, of course, revealed Valentine to Yuuki and Rachael, who had been sitting on the stairs listening the whole time.

"He doesn't really remind me of Alice at all." Yuuki spoke up first, staring at the young, rather androgynous looking boy with all six of her eyes.

"My other mother, Yuuki... My human one." Tobias closed the door and lead Valentine into the kitchen. "Her original name was Yelena, but she changed it to Natalia Balilaika... You'd have hated her regardless."

"That's my middle name. Balilaika." Valentine stopped to face his supposed sisters, both of whom had six solid coloured glowing eyes. "Valentine Balilaika Darkwood."

* * *

"Toby, sweetie, I made sure that I killed her. I used her corpse for an art exhibit, remember?" Serenity was idly pacing, having spared Valentine only a brief stare before talking to Tobias and Alice, who was staring at the kid with an analytic gaze, not saying a word. "Even if she survived my attack, the formaldehyde that was pumped into her body would've certainly finished her off!"

"I don't know... Something about this doesn't feel right." Tobias stroked his jaw, thinking back to Raccoon City. He could've sworn he'd seen his human mother's name somewhere it shouldn't have been after her death, he just couldn't put his finger on it.

"He's got a few of yours and definitely a lot of your mother's facial structure, definitely got your hair and normal eyes. And he's got just a Russian accent. Toby, he's not a clone of you... He's your _brother_." Alice finally spoke up, still staring at the boy. "Bitch is still alive, whether we like it or not."

"So that begs the question; Where the fuck is she? Something feels way too familiar about this whole thing. I swear I've seen her name somewhere after Sere's art exhibition... Somewhere that it shouldn't have been in the first place, a list of something." Tobias glanced at what was essential himself from his early teens. "Valentine, how old are you?"

"Wow, a question I can actually answer!" Valentine's sarcasm was just oozing out of his voice and expression. "I'm fifteen."

"Shit..." Tobias muttered under his breath. "Sere, how exactly did you kill her in the first place? Aside from the formaldehyde, of course."

"I shoved a sewing needle into her jugular. Had to preserve her flesh as much as possible, after all. The formaldehyde was pumped into her corpse by Umbrella's technicians, so that might've been where things were changed or fucked with."

"Hmm... You have a point..." Tobias stroked his lip with his thumb, a very old habit that both women recognized. "Wait a second..."

"Yeah, I just had that thought too..." Alice caught his gaze, realizing that Sere had been given Balilaika's clone. "The one from the art exhibition was an Umbrella-made clone."

"Well then... Valentine, the way things stand, you have two options: my son... or my brother? How would you prefer to identify yourself in our eyes?" Tobias spoke to Valentine, who smirked for a brief moment.

"Son, let's try to keep things easy to understand, for all involved." Valentine replied, watching Serenity shrug and Alice chuckle to herself. "So, I guess introductions are in order?"

"I'm your adoptive grandmother, Alice." Alice introduced herself, then turned to Serenity. "This is Serenity, my wife. We both carry the T-Virus, and we're also both Ghouls."

"And the twins from earlier... are those my sisters?" Valentine was clearly piecing each other member of his family together for himself.

"Yuuki's the one with blue eyes, and Rachael's the one with the red eyes. Your mother, the one you scared, that's Rize." Tobias explained as he withdrew his phone to check the time. "You also have an aunt and an uncle. Your aunt's name is Tabitha, but she goes by Mishka. Your uncle's name is Kaneki."

"Anyone else?" Valentine asked, counting up to nine on his fingers.

"No, there's only the nine of us. We're called the Darkwood's, T-Ghouls, or the bioweapons. Now, you need to come with me, there's some things we need to sort out immediately. Alice, Sere, if you two aren't busy, could you handle the rest here?"

"Sure thing, I'll let Mishka and Kaneki know to come over this evening." Alice stood up from her seat as Valentine joined his father. "See you when you get back."

* * *

"So, you're Valentine." Tabitha and her wife, Hinami, were already waiting for Tobias and Valentine to arrive, both seated on the stairs when the two of them opened the front door, each carrying bags in hand. There were also a few boxes behind them, held up by Tobias' Telekinesis. "I'm Tabitha, but everyone calls me Mishka. This is my wife, Hinami."

"Good evening, it's a pleasure to meet you." Valentine bowed his head slightly as the boxes formed a neat stack in the hall. "May I ask..."

"Just a normal Ghoul, I don't have the T-Virus." Hinami smiled, noticing that Valentine was dressed very androgynously. He was wearing white cargo pants, a rather feminine sleeveless black shirt under a white off-shoulder light sweater. His hands were clad in the same black pair of lacy fingerless gloves that Yuuki always wore. Loosely tied around his neck was a black bandana, and resting rather proudly on his forehead was a pair of steampunk goggles. All in all, the femboy engineer-like outfit masked his gender just as easily as his slightly uptilted Russian accent.

"Of course, thank you." Valentine smiled at the preemptive answer to his question. His father had explained that the family had humans, Ghouls, and even cyborgs as close friends, who had all been summoned to the home for proper introductions.

"Leave the bags here, me and your grandmother will handle the bags and boxes. Everyone's in the kitchen." Tobias had arranged everything by phone, so he gestured for Valentine to proceed without him.

Of course, Valentine had no idea who was waiting for him, but regardless he deposited the bags he was holding and walked into the kitchen to come face to face with a lot of people.

"There he is. You must be Valentine." One of the woman, who had fiery red hair and a _very_ substantial bust, spotted him right away. "Natasha Foxwing, I'm one of the humans you were told about. I work with your father."

"Name's Jake Muller, I'm Yuuki's boyfriend." The second redhead, a guy with a scar on his face, spoke up with a smirk. "I'm human too, but with a bit of a twist. I'm the son of a manufactured human, so I'm able to regenerate injuries faster than a normal human."

"I take it there's a story behind that one?" Valentine asked, and of course Jake nodded.

"A long one, yeah." A short blonde girl nudged her elbow into his ribs before addressing Valentine directly. "I'm Sherry Birkin, I'm Yuuki's girlfriend. Me and this moron here share your oldest sister. Hard to explain without her here."

"Speaking of which... Where is she?" The next person to speak up was Kaneki, who Valentine already knew was his uncle. "I'm Kaneki, your uncle." He briefly introduced himself as two women came around the corner of the L shaped kitchen. One was purple haired with red eyes, the other... was clearly a cyborg.

"Motoko Kusanagi, and this is my wife, Mato. But she goes by Stella." The taller one - purple hair and red eyes - held out her hand for Valentine to shake, which he did, then did the same for Stella's metallic grasp.

"We're both cyborgs." Stella explained as Valentine opened his mouth to speak. "We're family friends, and we work for Tobias sometimes."

"I presumed as much, but that wasn't my question, Stella. I was going to ask how much of your body is made of that Titanium-Carbon Polymer alloy?" Valentine asked, which seemed to surprise both of the cyborgs.

"How did you know what I'm made of?" Stella regarded him suspiciously, not even Motoko or herself knew the other parts of the alloy, aside from the Titanium of course.

"When you shook my hand, I just... knew." Valentine stared at their still grasped hands, which earned a chuckle from behind him. It was his father.

"Magnokinesis. You can manipulate magnetism, and it seems you can tell exactly what any metallic object is made of too." He smirked as their handshake was quickly dropped. "I noticed when we were dealing with the CCG this morning. I heard the magnetic interference when we passed near the RC Cell Detectors."


	4. Chapter 4

Over the span of the next week, all eight of his family members helped teach Valentine about being a T-Ghoul, and this included all of his powers; His Magnokinesis and his Kagune, which was a dual-type of a Bikaku ending in a short curved scythe-like blade and a pair of Koukaku's that resembled Tobias' twin tower shields, but were smaller, proportionate to his much smaller stature. He also had one Kakugan, his right, while his left turned a sparkling silver when using his Magnokinesis.

"So... By the look of his Kagune, she's gotten her hands onto Issacs' research into Ghouls and the T-Virus." Alice watched Valentine's practice fight with his mother's Rinkaku while herself and Tobias observed.

"Which is highly likely, given our cloning theory." Tobias replied. "But the question that's been nagging at me all week is where I saw her name after her 'death'... I swear I've seen it on a list of names."

"Might've been an Umbrella document or something, it's been almost 20 years, Toby. By now, that damn smoking should've taken a toll on at least her health, maybe even killed her."

"Not sure, but it's possible, regardless." Tobias shrugged, but then heard a vehicle pull up to the front of the house. "Someone's here."

Both Rize and Valentine heard him say the last part, and stopped their sparring to also listen as two sets of footsteps approached the front door, then knocked.

"Come around the back!" Tobias called loudly as he approached the side gate that lead to the backyard. As he reached for the latch, he suddenly heard a very unwelcome sound from one of the people. " _Shit!_ "

Without warning, he covered Rize, Alice and Valentine with Ice Skin, then drew Silence from his belt as the frag grenade sailed over his head, only to be caught in midflight by Alice's Telekinesis and diverted over the side of the cliff before exploding at the bottom.

Just as the explosion went off, the solid wooden gate was slammed open and gun safety's were clicked off from both sides as Tobias brought his own Kagune to bear, slamming one of the attackers against the concrete wall. The other was easily grappled and disarmed of their G36 assault rifle before his foot pinned them down, but suddenly something coiled around his ankle and tried to pull. He glanced down and frowned at the sight of the familiar Quinque.

"It's been a while, Senior Investigator Akira Mado." Tobias finally turned his gaze towards the other end of the whip. "How's the new body working for you?"

Alice's eyes went wide behind the Ice Skin helmet. She'd watched Serenity and Rize eat that woman in the CCG HQ assault. Somehow she'd survived?!

"Send my regards to Amon, _Frostbite_!" Akira already had her grip on the Quinque changed as she tried to escape Tobias' foot on her chest, but a dark, mirthless laugh from behind his Kagune made them both turn towards the other attacker.

"Do you really still go by that atrocious name?"

"Nyet, cyka." Tobias' entire presence changed, and Valentine recognized the voice. "You should've stayed dead, mother."

"Unfortunately for you..." Balilaika continued speaking as his Kagune was pushed away from her trapped body, revealing her drastically changed appearance. "I'm not even human to begin with, Tobias Dimitri Darkwood."

She was entirely robotic, similar to Stella's cybernetic limbs in design, but full bodied, red coloured body with artificial brown hair, and her polymer-nano machine face was contorted in an angry snarl.

" _YOU!_ " Balilaika's gaze turned towards Valentine as he approached. "I should've known my last human act would've been a failure."

"You failed, not me." Valentine sighed in a very disappointed manner as he reached up to Balilaika's face and gently cupped along her jaw. "You were T-Virus compatible from the very beginning, and you chose to discard such prime organic material for a Titanium-Carbon polymer shell. You're such an intelligent woman, but blind to the truth."

With a snarl, Balilaika shoved Tobias' Kagune aside and extended a three-piece staff from her hip, attacking Valentine with a frustrated growl, but Valentine effortlessly held her off with peels of rather feminine giggling.

"Kill that other bitch, this one's mine!" Valentine was surprisingly agile, but he'd pulled his goggles over his eyes during Balilaika's initial attack. Of course, he was speaking to his father, who was pinning Akira to the ground.

"Serenity... You're needed at the house." Alice spoke into her phone, and received a very bubbly reply.

"I'm on my way!"

"Good. Now we can enjoy Round 2." Rize was ignoring the fight between her son and mother-in-law as she stared down at the trapped ex-CCG Investigator. "And I'm sure Serenity's itching to find out how not one, but _two_ of her kills didn't exactly stay dead."

* * *

In the ten minutes it took for Serenity to arrive, Valentine and Balilaika hadn't stopped fighting for a second. Both were relentless, and evenly matched. When Serenity pushed the gate open, her face lit up with utter glee.

"Akira's ours. Balilaika's Valentine's." Alice indicated the trapped woman. "But, when we're done, we need intel... Then we kill her."

" _Again_." Rize added as she rolled up her sleeves. "Darling, we'll take over from here."

"Have fun." Tobias removed his foot and dismissed his Kagune, knowing exactly what they had in mind. He also knew how Akira had originally died, all those years ago.

* * *

With a crunch of breaking metal, Valentine finally disabled his mother's body, but kept her still in a functional state as he knelt down beside her sparking head, while his father loomed menacingly over them both.

"First and foremost, you had a clone of yourself made by Umbrella to fool us into thinking you were dead. Next, after the fall of Umbrella, you stole the T-Ghoul Program's research and used it to create Valentine here. And then you have the balls to attack me with a known enemy, do you realize that I know your tricks? That I heard the grenade's pin? Or maybe... That I'm the original leader of the Syndicate?"

"If you know so much..." Balilaika's face was, for lack of a better term, fucked up, so nothing moved as she spoke, instead using a built-in speaker. "Then why don't... you know... who your successor is?"

"I don't care who succeeded me." Tobias crouched down with a dangerously neutral expression. "The problem is that the Syndicate is still functioning, even after I gave the total disbandment order to the surviving members. You can't fool the one that created your organization, so let's start with the 'why'?" Tobias narrowed his eyes. "Why did you attack us? You don't have enough combat experience yourself, and the two assault rifles, this staff of yours, and Akira's Quinque are nowhere near enough to harm even one of us, let alone me."

"We were retrieving him." Balilaika's eyes went to Valentine, who sneered. "He escaped, that's why."

"Next, why did you become a robot? And what did you mean by 'your last human act' when you spoke to Valentine?"

"I gave my body to science, then demanded to be turned into a robot to end my biological legacy. I'm not going to let my womb become a bioweapon factory, so I gave up my humanity for that sole reason."

"Well, you're fucking stupid." Valentine frowned. "When I'm done with you, you'll wish you were human again."

With that, and before his father could stop him, he grabbed her face and fried her entire system with a burst of magnetic energy, causing a visible rippling in the air as her damaged chassis went limp and the few remaining lights and all the sparks went out.

"Need a hand with whatever you've got in mind?" Tobias sighed, knowing a big project when he saw one.

"Motoko... I'll need help from Motoko." Valentine removed his hand from the remnants of Balilaika's face. "I want her staff though, got something else in mind for it... Oh, and Akira's Quinque. That too."

* * *

"Oh, wow... Wait until Motoko finds out about this!" Alice and Serenity were restraining Akira's arms with handcuffs while Rize was removing a special box from within a hidden part of her large dresser. "You know you're fucked, so be honest, Akira..."

"Fully functional in the sexual context." Akira's face was red from embarrassment. She couldn't fight off all three of them, so she'd been reduced to mere prey for the same three lesbian monsters that had killed her the first time. Of course, she had been stripped nude and their glowing gazes had fallen upon her prosthetic sex, but what they didn't know was who it was for. "You're not having your way with me like the first time, you freaks."

"Sweetie, we're just finishing what we'd started. I heard it in your voice all those years ago; You considered yourself heterosexual back then... Now, you're a lesbian, aren't you?"

Akira fell silent, glaring at Serenity's accurate observation. She had indeed reconsidered her sexual orientation since that... incident.

"It's Balilaika." Rize stated as she opened the box and sorted through it for a few moments. "Why else would the two of them be together like that?"

Akira clenched her teeth, which unfortunately gave away the truth to Serenity's smirking face.

"And now I'm sure Stella'd love to get in on this." Serenity giggled, but caught that distinctive shimmer entering the room. "Isn't that right, Stella?"

"I was gonna wait here to fuck Yuuki and Rachael, but they're not here, are they?" Stella deactivated her Therm-Optic camo and put her hands on her hips with a rather triumphant air about her. "Cyborg lesbian cougars are _so_ fucking sexy."

"That's right, my love." Motoko also deactivated her own Therm-Optic camo as she embraced her wife from behind. "And this one's no exception." Her gaze fell upon the trapped Akira, who was only now abandoning logic and attempting to break free.

"Oh, no! No! No! NO! _NOOO_!" Akira begged, yanking the cuffs as hard as she could, but fell into a helpless whimpering panic as all five of them loomed menacingly over her.


	5. Chapter 5

"So, wait... This _thing_ was your grandmother?" Jake pointed at the remnants of Balilaika that Valentine was tinkering with. "Hold on a second, this ain't right..."

"She gave up her body after giving birth to me." Valentine spoke up, still focused on his delicate toolwork. "She's like Motoko, but without the synthetic skin. Or, a better example... a full body version of Stella's limbs."

"He's right." Yuuki nodded. "Motoko once told me about a former superior officer of hers that was similarly designed. Only difference was her face didn't move, it was completely solid metal in the shape of a face... Like a mask."

"So what are you planning to do to her?" Jake asked, since they were in the Darkwood's basement, which was where Valentine's bedroom had been set up, plus a workshop for his project regarding his robotic mother.

"I'm firstly going to repair her body." Valentine explained. "Then, after removing and formatting her cyberbrain, I am going to rewrite her personality from scratch, and make numerous upgrades to her sensory, psychological and physical matrixes."

"In English please?" Neither Jake nor Yuuki could understand what he'd said beyond repairing the damaged body.

"He intends to turn her into a servant, like a bodyguard or housemaid." Motoko spoke up from behind them, carrying a dufflebag of her cyber equipment. "What about Akira? Any plans for her too?"

"I haven't decided yet. And after all that you've done to her body, I might need to invest a lot more time into this project than I'm willing to sacrifice."

"Serenity said she wasn't taking any chances this time." Motoko held up her hands. "I could do her repairs myself, actually. Of course, I'm also dealing with the cyberbrains for both of them, so it isn't much trouble to fix what we did to her." Motoko smirked, since Akira's synthetic flesh had been melted off her body, no thanks to Rize's Pyrokinesis from the incident two days earlier.

"That'd be a better option, thank you Motoko." Valentine smiled, but didn't remove his gaze from his work.

* * *

By the second week since Valentine's arrival, he had Balilaika's body back to working order and began working with Motoko to revamp the cyberbrain from the ground up. Aided by Tobias, Natasha and his sisters, the dual robot project - Akira's prosthetic body was also back to full function, but lacked the synthetic flesh at the moment - was quickly taking strides towards completion, which didn't go unnoticed by the rest of his family.

"Takes after her, doesn't she? That intelligence and the natural talent with science..." Rize commented in Japanese, which they all knew Valentine didn't speak, to Tobias, who nodded in agreement.

"I think it's a fitting end for her legacy. Turned into the plaything of the one person she so proudly threw away her humanity for." Tobias agreed. "And I know what you three did to Akira back in Raccoon City, just so you know."

"It's not like I was exactly hiding it from you or anything. It just never came up in conversation." Rize laughed, knowing what he was referring to.

* * *

"Done. Let's do it." Motoko finally disconnected the cyberbrains from their cradles, then carefully lifted them one at a time back into Balilaika's and Akira's heads, which sealed themselves with loud clicking sounds. After several seconds, both of them began to show signs of activation as their eyes lit up and they lifted their heads.

"How may we be of service, Master Valentine?" Both of them queried as they bowed their heads towards Valentine at the same time, both speaking in synthetic voices as their identical bodies clasped their hands together in front of themselves.

"Just call me Valentine." Valentine waved his hand dismissively at the title. "I want you to confirm your primary function parameters."

"We serve you and your family, obeying all commands given by registered members and associates, as delegated by yourself, Valentine Balilaika Darkwood." Both of them listed off their basest, most 'instinctive' orders in unison, still standing at attention as Motoko presented them with the contrasting outfits that Valentine had prepared for them.

"Confirm identities." Valentine spoke up as they accepted their outfits.

"Kuro." Akira's former body spoke up as she accepted the bag.

"Shiro." Balilaika said her own name right afterwards, likewise taking the offered bag.

"Put on your uniforms, once you are done, you will be provided with a 3D render of this house, designation: Darkwood residence." Valentine held up a data storage device's cyberbrain cable. "Save the data into your cyberbrains, then follow me."

Both of them opened the bags and donned their respective white and black outfits, which matched their Japanese names accordingly. Akira, AKA Kuro, wore the black dress, while Balilaika, AKA Shiro, donned the white one. The matching styled dresses consisted of an ankle length pencil skirt with a slit all the way up both legs to mid-thigh. The shoulders and neck were conservatively simple and elegant, without hindering any of the moving parts near their necks and shoulders. On the chest, however, were their names in oppositely coloured embroidery. Both dresses were made entirely by Serenity.

Upstairs, the rest of his family and all of their close friends were waiting for their arrival, having been informed they were needed to register identities for the robots. Of course, they were his, but they still had at least some authority to them.

It took quite a while due to their numbers, but Shiro and Kuro were eventually ready with everyone's relevant information, which left an obviously proud smile on Valentine's face.

"Good, one last thing..." Valentine addressed everyone with a glance at Motoko's encouraging nod. "I've taken ownership of Balilaika's staff and Akira's Quinque. I've got another project in mind for them, in case you were wondering what I did with them."

"Don't break anything, and make sure not to hurt yourself with that Quinque either." Rize warned with a motherly tone. "I've seen what that Quinque can do, believe me."

* * *

"'Kay, so we're finally allowed to say what's been going on here for the past few weeks. Our dad's biological mother had a son, but she died and we've adopted him. His name's Valentine, and he's agreed to come onto the stream in a little bit, he loves to build things, so he's downstairs right now." Yuuki explained to the livestream as she loaded hers and Rachael's latest savefile for their co-op playthrough of an adventure game. "He's gonna be answering all the questions, right now, we're off in search of those gems from yesterday."

A short time later, Valentine knocked on the door to his sisters' room, which was quickly opened for him to walk inside.

"You wanted to introduce me to your livestream?" Valentine already noticed the setup of camera's positioned on the desk and towards the room at large.

"Yup, they don't bite, c'mere." Rachael nodded, changing the camera feed to the one aimed at the whole room. "Alright, here's Val, be gentle, okay?"

Valentine sat in the offered chair, nervously glancing at the camera and Rachael's computer as the chat started rapidly asking him questions.

"Hang on..." Yuuki locked the chat down with a few clicks, then turned to her brother. "Okay, so I got the gist of what was being asked, so Val, look at me. Val. Over here." Yuuki swiveled her chair to face her little brother as he looked away from the web animation on the chat. "I'll ask you the questions I saw them asking, you answer them to me, okay?"

"The chat's kinda... distracting." Valentine nodded once in agreement.

"We have six eyes, we can read it and still play. Now, first question they want to know; Your age."

"But you..." Valentine started, but Yuuki held up her hand.

"They're the ones asking, not me."

"Fifteen." Valentine got the idea now, so he answered the questions that Yuuki had collected before stopping the chat.

By the end of it all, Yuuki gave him a pat on the shoulder to let him know he was done with the introductions. "Alright, now that you've scared the crap out of our brother, he's done for now. No more questions after I unlock the chat. Got that?"

Valentine left their room, headed back down to the basement where he'd been working on redesigning Balilaika's three-piece staff into a rather genius collapsing design he'd come up with. Inside of each of the three pieces were Akira's Quinque, and of course, it had to be made of Quinque Steel.

He literally reverse engineered himself a CCG style Quinque.

* * *

"So you reverse engineered their weapons together, and made yourself a chestplate to store them on. Very well done, Valentine." Tobias smiled at his son's finally finished weapon, which was the three parts of the staff locked onto the fitted chestplate he was adjusting the straps that kept it in place.

"I have more pieces of the armour downstairs, almost finished them." Valentine smiled slightly at the compliment. "So what's in those boxes?" He pointed at three identical plastic cases, which he vaguely recognized as gun cases, that were in a neat row on the coffee table in front of his father.

"These are a gift for you and your sisters, once they get home from work." Tobias replied. "They're all the same, so I'm waiting for them before I let you open them."


	6. Chapter 6

"Fuckin' hell, that hurt!"

Both Valentine and Tobias heard Yuuki's angry snarl from outside the front door, turning towards the twins as they came through the door with their bike helmets in hand.

"If you got into a fight, Yuuki..." Tobias warned his oldest offspring with a mere glare, but she waved her hand dismissively, bringing with the gesture the scent of her own uniquely tinged blood.

"I was playing with my butterfly knife, cut my hand trying to catch it." She replied as she held up the offending blade as proof. "I'll be fine, it's already started to regen."

"Good, now I have gifts for all three of you." Tobias curtly spun on his heel and used his Telekinesis to pop the clasps open on the gun cases. "Been working on these since Valentine killed our mother."

"This oughta be good..." Yuuki commented as she and Rachael shared a glance before entering the living room with their little brother between them.

"Matched set, grab a box and open it." Tobias smirked as he reached into his suit jacket and withdrew a cigar in a steel tube and his lighter. He'd recently admitted to have picked up the habit from one of his BSAA team members a while back, much to Rize's amusement and Alice's annoyance. He slid it out of the tube, then lit it with the expected cloud of steely grey smoke and the sharp clasp of the zippo snapping closed. "They're all the same."

Yuuki was the first to open a case, immediately covering her mouth with both hands with a sharp gasp.

"Why...?" Rachael leaned over her twin's shoulder to stare at their newest sidearm to join their collections. "Fuck... That's a sexy gun."

"We all get one, you starstruck moron." Valentine popped his case open and withdrew the last gun, already aware of the various metals used in the guns. "Quinque Steel frame, slide and guiderod. Titanium barrel, 24 karat gold accent parts, stainless steel internal springs and components... Q-Bullets already loaded."

"I found an interesting design concept in a Colt knockoff model called the AMT Silverballer. So, after a few days of searching, I revamped the design into all of our guns, so eject the magazine and watch where your feet are." Tobias took a drag from his cigar as he spoke to his daughters, who had more firearm experience than Valentine - he was still learning at the BSAA base under his father's sadomasochistic training regime.

With a glance, they both depressed the magazine release, causing the spring loaded magazine catch to propel the loaded magazine straight to the floor with a slightly unsettling sound of metal sliding against metal, very akin to a blade being unsheathed.

"Springs inside the magwell are compressed when the magazine's loaded, but once the mag release is pressed, it drops the mag itself, without having to do this." Tobias unholstered Silence from his belt and dropped the magazine with a slight flick of his wrist, but then caught it again and slammed it back inside. "Drawback to those guns is it takes a harder hit to lock in the magazine since the springs are resisting."

"We're not exactly weak. You of all people should know that." Yuuki knelt to retrieve hers and Rachael's fallen magazines as she spoke.

"We have human friends, most of whom have a tendency to join us in gunfights rather willingly." Rachael reminded her sister as she slammed her magazine back into her gun, glancing at the three spares sitting inside each of the gun cases. "Like Jake, Sherry, Stella, Natasha..."

"Stella's a cyborg. She'd have less trouble than a squishy human." Yuuki countered, but Tobias chuckled for a moment, earning her attention.

"She's still technically human, Yuuki."

"Technically, yeah..." Yuuki smirked as she collected her new gun into the case and snapped it closed. "But she's not weak, we can all agree on that."

"Agreed." Tobias exhaled a mouthful of smoke with a smirk. "She could give Mishka a good run for her money, I'd pay cash to see the two of them fight each other."

"I'm not sure Hinami or Motoko would like the idea, honestly." Valentine laughed slightly as he collected his own gun, like his sisters were doing.

"Motoko might... You don't know her like I do." Yuuki replied, ruffling Valentine's hair with her free hand, smirking at his immediate reflex to fix it.

* * *

"Hey! You're not permitted to be here!"

"I am." Valentine glared at the unfamiliar BSAA technician, flanked by Kuro and Shiro. "You just haven't been given the report or my authorization."

"Look, little girl, I'm sure that whoever gave you that authorization will inform me and my staff, but until then..." The technician began, but Shiro suddenly shoved Valentine's cell phone into his face, having held the line open the whole time.

"Firstly, Valentine is my son." Tobias spoke in an icy calm voice. "Second, I am the one that gave him the permanent authorization to be in the tech facility, he has a project in mind for the T-15 Exosuits currently undergoing upgrades. Provide him with any blueprints or documentation he needs, and leave him to his work. Any issues are to be directly reported to me in person when I come there to bring him home. This evening."

"U-understood, Captain Darkwood." The technician glanced down at the androgynous child smirking rather smugly at him. "Right this way, Valentine..."

* * *

Tobias hung up his desk phone with a small smirk, having thought ahead for just that reaction. It was no secret that Valentine was a prodigy when it came to machines, so when Valentine asked to tinker with some of the BSAA tech, he simply laughed and drove him to the facility, already providing him with the necessary details and access he'd need.

* * *

"Here's the T-15 blueprints, and this is the specifications." The technician presented Valentine with the documents and rolled paper he needed while a nearby assistant lifted their current prototype T-15 onto the workbench.

"Hmmm..." Valentine unfurled the rolled blueprint and gave it a practiced examination. His father's original design had been only modified once since being adopted by the BSAA, and even that change was minor. It still functioned the same way, deployed to and from the same backpack-style, and it was Quinque Steel. "I'll need video data showing active usage of the Exosuits, doesn't matter if it's training footage or archived combat files."

"I don't have the access for the archived footage, but I can give you the training video we use."

"That's fine, go get it." Valentine was still examining the blueprints. He had a concept in mind already, but needed more reference material. "Kuro, access the archived Titanfall 2 livestream from my sisters' website, specifically the equipment segment. Shiro, scan and archive all these documents, the blueprint, and the training video once he comes back."

Within minutes, the technician returned with the file on a portable storage drive, handing it to Shiro as Valentine continued to stare at the blueprint while holding his thumbnail between his teeth.

"I'll need... two. Maybe three." Valentine was still deep in thought, speaking to himself before suddenly turning to the technician. "Where is my father's T-60f Mobile Ordnance Platform?"

"I believe it's here at this facility. Shall I bring it here, or escort you to it?" The technician knew about the hulking suit of Power Armour, but knew he wasn't tall enough to utilize it.

"Shiro, go with him to scan it, I want a 3-D hologram rendering of it. You." Valentine turned back to the technician. "Escort Shiro, then come back, I have one last task for you."

"Understood, Mr. Valentine." The technician nodded, then left with Shiro following behind him without a word.

"Judging by your words, you have a side project or a similarity between the T-15 Exosuits and your father's T-60f Mobile Ordnance Platform?" Kuro asked as Valentine reached into the thigh pocket of his cargo pants and withdrew a pocket-sized notebook and a pencil.

"It's just for reference right now, but I do think I have something in mind." Valentine started flipping through the pages, stopping at a fresh page. "I just need to do some tests and run some numbers first."

* * *

"You want me to wear the T-15?" The technician was rather surprised by the tame request from Valentine, who was still sketching in his little notebook.

"I need to get a better viewing angle, and both Kuro and Shiro aren't tall enough for the T-15, but you are." Valentine replied without looking up. "It's just for a few minutes while I finish my sketch."

"Okay, and that's all you need from me?" The tech asked as he lifted the prototype onto his back and deployed it after locking the shoulder straps in place.

"Turn to the left, hold your arms up like Shiro's doing." Valentine tilted his head towards his white clad android, who was demonstrating the proper position, much like a cartoon cactus. "Try to hold that position, let me know if you're getting tired."

"The suits are designed to assist with this sort of thing, but sure, I'll let you know." The tech nodded, still holding up his arms as directed.

After a few minutes, Valentine asked him to turn a few times, then did a few more specific poses, then gave his final sketch a nod. He finally had his design.

"Alright, you're done. Take the suit off, put it back on the workbench." Valentine closed his notebook with a curt snap, tucking his pencil behind his ear as he let out a sigh. "You can go now, I've got what I needed."

"May I ask what you have in mind?" The technician extracted himself from the armoured suit and lifted it back onto the table.

"About four particular upgrades." Valentine replied. "One of which I'll need to speak to a friend about."

"Of course, well, I'll leave you to it." The tech waved as he left Valentine to his work, the pneumatic door sliding closed behind him before Shiro turned to Valentine and spoke.

"Shall I make the call?"

"No, she's busy right now. I'll talk to Motoko in person the next time I see her." Valentine replied. "Now, let's get to work, one of these ideas I have is pretty straightforward."


	7. Chapter 7

"Remind me again why I'm being dragged away from my T-15 project?" Valentine wasn't pleased by his current predicament, seated in Serenity's tattoo parlour under the watchful eye of his sisters, Serenity herself, and his father.

"Family tradition, of course." Rachael was scrolling through something on her phone with her lower eyes while her upper pairs were focused on her little brother. "We've been discussing this with mom for a week, finally got her to agree."

"I don't understand..." Valentine was wary, since Serenity wasn't just inviting them to have a coffee. They were here for something else.

"Your entire family has at least two tattoos each, done by me of course. And you, my dear, are a blank canvas. I'm not wasting a chance like this." Serenity smiled at him. "So, you're not going anywhere until you decide on what and where your first two tattoos are going."

"You're rather tenacious about this, aren't you?" Valentine asked, which made his father chuckle.

"It's family tradition, of course we'd be tenacious about it."

"Ray got lucky with hers, being born a clone of me. Dad started it, I'm infamous for mine, Jake's got my red spider on his chest, Mom's got three, Mishka's got one on each arm, Kaneki's got two on his shoulder, Alice has like, what, four now?" Yuuki turned to Serenity, who shook her head.

"Five now. She got an owl, right here." Serenity indicated the side of her ribs. "Val, sweetie, tell you what... I have an idea for a small one, you pick where it goes, then you can come back next week with your own design, and I'll do it then, alright? You are not walking out of my studio without a tattoo."

"How small is it?" Valentine asked, and Serenity held up her thumb and index finger about three and a half inches apart. "Sure, fine... Put it on the side of my neck. I don't really care where it goes."

* * *

In record time, Serenity finished her design on the side of Valentine's neck, a beautiful lotus flower reaching from just below his jawline down the length of his jugular to stop at the dip of his throat, right below his Adam's Apple.

"Remember your promise~!" Serenity teased as she finished pulling her gloves off.

"Think you got time to do one on us?" Yuuki asked, indicating Rachael with her phone in hand, who was likewise staring at her phone. "We've been looking at ideas this whole time."

"Hmmm... That's up to your father." Serenity glanced over at Tobias, who nodded.

"We'll see you at home, girls." Tobias nodded as he and Valentine left the studio to drive back in his pickup truck, leaving the sister's bikes parked side by side in the same parking space.

"Alright then... Who's first?" Serenity's eyes glinted with glee, rather curious to see what the twins had in mind for their newest tattoo's.

* * *

"And here I thought Alice and Sere were the ones with the green thumbs..." Rize couldn't help but tease her children as they all gathered at the dinner table that evening. "Alice of course being figuratively... and Serenity in the literal case."

"What's wrong with flowers?" Yuuki challenged with a forkful of flesh halfway to her mouth. "Actually, no... What did you expect us to get?"

"More spiderwebs, actually." Rize smiled at the counter. Sure, seeing their very distinctive style was always eye-catching, but the addition of the Lilies of the Valley adorning her daughters' opposing shoulders - Yuuki's was on her left, Rachael's was on her right - was still a slight surprise nonetheless. And of course, her son's lotus on his neck was actually... rather fitting for him.

"Sere said it was a great idea." Rachael swallowed her mouthful of flesh before speaking. "She said it reminded her of you and Kaneki from back when you were all still in Raccoon City."

"I knew this... rather eccentric Ghoul, Shu Tsukiyama, back when I was still in Japan. He was really into floriography." Rize paused her eating to recall the unusual but gentlemanly Ghoul, who was at the time known as 'The Gourmet' by the Japanese CCG, but couldn't recall the exact language he'd used for the particular flower that her daughters had on their arms. "I just can't remember what the floriographic wording is for the Lily of the Valley..."

"Sweetness, humility, returning happiness and trust." Valentine reported from his phone's screen. "Lotus is a symbol of tenacity, everlasting life and purity."

"In my eyes, flowers are just nice to look at. Sure, they can symbolize certain things, but they don't have an audible language... It's a visual one; subtle and eloquently bold." Tobias smirked slightly. "Regardless, I won't be getting a flower tattoo myself, I already draw the line with the wildflowers in the field on my wrist." He pointedly glanced at the armoured knight on the back of his right hand, one of the two visible parts of his signature medieval-fantasy tattoo that dominated his whole arm and part of his chest, shoulder blade and traces up the side of his neck, only a faint smoke trail - literally - being visible above his usual suit collar, stopping below his ear, just like his son's lotus flower did.

"I'm satisfied with my hip and my shoulders, thanks." Rize smiled as she resumed eating. "If you want to let her do it, I don't care how colourful you get... Just pay for the laser removal yourself if you want to get rid of them."

"C'mon, give her five minutes and she's already got a place to put it. Twenty, and she's looking for a way to pin you down... Give her an opportunity, and you're _fucked_." Tobias smiled, laughing darkly.

* * *

"Mr. Darkwood, are you sure this is the concept you've designed? It's..."

"You have my design; your orders are to fabricate the components for me." Valentine didn't even bat an eye at the attempted denial of his design for the first of his upgrades for the T-15's; A pair of mobility assistance thrusters placed on the lower back. They were meant to boost jump heights, slow falls to prevent injury, and even dash around while on the ground. He decided to simply call them a Boost Pack instead of something complex. "Get started." He ordered in the same bored tone.

"Y-yes sir..." The tech team quickly got to work using Valentine's dissected 3D model of the various components for the Boost Pack.

"You know where to find me." Valentine spun on his heel and returned to his commandeered workshop, already strewn with stacks of rolled blueprints and several partially assembled components for a T-15. Taking a seat on his wheeled stool, he pushed himself across the floorspace, slowing to a halt beside his latest toy. He'd taken a leaf out of his father's book and picked up an FN P90 to tinker with. His idea wasn't complex, it just had one small issue that was giving him grief.

One of the official FN parts for the P90 was a large, bulky looking suppressor that integrated into the front of the weapon. It wasn't the issue. In fact, he'd gutted the entire attachment, swapping out the internal parts and frame to turn the outer shell into an extended foregrip, including an extension to the barrel, which just barely poked out of the end of the blocky extension.

But, he did something else, which _was_ the issue.

The lower half of the new foregrip was hollow, with a spring loaded compartment that opened up from the bottom - activated by a small and simple sliding lock switch - swinging a hidden suppressor up to the barrel's small presence at the front. The problem was that it didn't screw onto the threaded barrel by itself, it had to be done manually.

Putting his feet up onto the bench where his customized PDW was resting, Valentine sighed and closed his eyes for a moment to think of a way to screw the suppressor into place as it deployed. If he used a delayed tension corkscrew mechanism, he'd need to build the whole thing by hand and... wait.

He suddenly had an idea, based on that delayed tension corkscrew idea, but why hadn't he thought of such an obvious method!

Clicking the sliding lock open, the suppressor flipped out from the bottom of the foregrip and snapped into place, but he'd already slid his stool across the workshop to grab a few necessary scrap parts, chief of which was a few small magnets.

In minutes, he had made steady progress with his little prototype mechanism, but the sound of the workshop's door opening behind him reached his ear.

"Mr. Darkwood, the team you've assigned to the Boost Pack fabrication would like you to come verify some materials used in the render, they're unsure about..."

"Ten minutes." Valentine didn't look up, hunched over his small mechanism with his goggles over his eyes.

"But sir, the Boost Pack..."

"Ten minutes." Valentine repeated his statement sharply, cutting the intern off.

"It's urgent, sir..."

" _Fifteen_ minutes." Valentine turned his Magnokinetic glare over his shoulder towards the intern, his voice darkly tinged with a threatening note. "Shall we keep going?"

* * *

 **A/N: Double upload because I've recently moved to a new house, and aside from a few technical issues, my access to internet has severely diminished. I shall still be writing, but my upload schedule is - for lack of a better term - fucked up. I'll try to keep at it as much as I can.  
**


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N: Actually, fuck it. Have a triple upload.**

* * *

"Greetings, my name is Miss Haley, I'll be your English teacher."

Valentine's index finger idly tapped on the side of his leg, his gaze utterly bored as he waited for the woman to finish her introduction.

"Now, forgive me for asking, but are you by chance siblings with Yuuki and Rachael?" Miss Haley asked curiously, very aware of that oh so distinctive sparkling silver hair.

"They're my older sisters." Valentine gave a slight nod.

Some of the students were still unable to see Valentine from where he was standing in the hall, while Miss Haley stood at the door. They could hear him, of course, so the gender confusion was beginning to rise.

"Well then, please, come in, there's a seat available at the right side of the room. I'll have to ask that you please speak English in class at all times, your sisters were rather notorious for arguing in Russian and Japanese."

"Of course, I understand." Valentine agreed, then the teacher moved to the front of the class while Valentine took the offered place in front of a boy with a noticeable look of disdain on his face. The girl ahead of Valentine was discreetly texting on her phone under the edge of her desk as Miss Haley clasped her hands together once, gathering their attention to her.

"Now, everyone, this is Valentine Darkwood. Please be respectful, it's already past midterms for this semester, so there's a lot to focus on right now. Now then, Valentine, we've been studying forms of fiction writing, on Monday I'd assigned the class to write a short story of their own imagination, we will..."

Without a word, Valentine reached into his shoulder bag and pointedly dropped it onto his desk before speaking.

"Fourteen pages, original plot, theme and characters. Written by hand, with proper sentence structure, punctuation, paragraphs. Oh, and of course... It's in English."

Miss Haley was silent for a moment, so Valentine added one more comment. "You taught my sisters, remember?"

"Yes I did." Miss Haley nodded, then smiled. "Well then, everyone, continue working on your short stories. Valentine, if you could... read yours over, do any editing or fixes, that would be excellent."

Everyone did as they were told, opening notebooks and binders to get started. Valentine idly twirled a pen on the flat side of his first index knuckle. After several quiet minutes - aside from the clicking sound of Valentine's pen twirling on the side of his finger - he heard a low, derisive snort-like sound of disgust from behind him. He knew it was the boy that had been glaring at him when he sat down.

A few more times, the boy made that low yet distinctive sound. Valentine casually turned a page in his notebook with his right hand - the hand with his pen spinning on it - without dropping his pen or slowing the current spin. He gave it another flick with his thumb to keep it going, which made the usual sharp little tick sound of contact, and the boy let out a much louder huff of annoyance.

 _Bingo._

Valentine caught on by now. This boy's constant groans and derisive snorts were being directed at himself. Now, armed with this knowledge, Valentine could tell he had the advantage... He just needed to lay the bait.

On Valentine's left hand, he had four rings. Usually he wore two on each hand, but he'd taken them off to begin twirling his pen. So, just like when he'd turned the page in his notebook, Valentine flawlessly kept the pen spinning as he slid his usual two rings off his left hand and back onto his right, one of which was his index finger.

With a low growl of frustration, the boy behind him started drumming his fingers on the surface of the desk, trying to make it seem pointedly loud, but the sound of Valentine's plastic pen contacting his metal rings easily drowned out the finger drumming.

"Ugh! Oh my _god_! You think you're so special 'cause your sisters were in her class before you. I don't even think you wrote that story, you just took it from one of them." The boy hissed out between his teeth, sounding rather nasally and noticeably stuck up.

"My oldest sister wrote hers in Japanese kanji, which I cannot read, and my other sister showed me hers to get me started. Her story got a 83, but wasn't quite long enough for higher marks." Valentine spoke just as quietly, smirking without turning his head. "If you have something to say, speak up. This is an English class, after all. It should be a class on proper social etiquette, but I digress."

The boy made that disgusted snort again. "... _Whatever._ "

Valentine's bait wasn't in place yet, he needed to aggravate this boy a bit more. It was obvious that he wasn't difficult to insult, but smart enough to pick up on subtle comments. He could work with this.

"I just... can't even stand to look at you, _god_ , your outfit is terrible, and your voice is breaking my concentration." The boy huffed again, tossing his pen onto his notebook. "Like, it's just as gross as that stupid flower you probably did on yourself to make yourself look cool. Doesn't even look real..."

Wow... He just laid the bait himself...

Valentine's face broke into a sadistic grin as his eyes glinted with glee in a way that would make even Serenity - the absolute master of this very expression - proud about what he was about to do.

In about half a second, Valentine spun around on his heel, grabbing the boy by the back of his head - his hair was really greasy, tied up into a hasty and messy bun - and slammed his forehead down onto his desk with a resounding bang that caused everyone to either jump or cry out in surprise as the tense silence was shattered, just like the boy's desk as Valentine pulled him back upright by the same grip on his disgusting hair.

" _Enough_." Valentine didn't yell, but his voice still had that intimidating, resonating power - that signature Darkwood family aura of intimidation - that guaranteed all eyes and ears were on him. "Learn how to actually communicate with other people in a constructive, polite and straightforward manner. Insulting people for how they look, dress or act is bullying. Falsely accusing them of plagiarism is another thing, and of course, hypocritically saying that they're breaking your concentration while you yourself are making noticeably loud and repetitive noises is just plain arrogant." Valentine pulled him off his chair - again by the hair - and leaned over him menacingly, yet continued to speak in that level, calm voice that resonated around the room thanks to his family's aura. "If I find you so much as glaring at me, you'll find out my last name. Have I made myself clear?"

"Get off me!" The boy couldn't get Valentine's iron grip out of his hair.

"One last thing..." Valentine leaned in close and whispered into his ear. "I'll let my aunt Serenity know what you think of my lotus tattoo. I wish you good luck."

With a mere flick of his wrist in the boy's head, Valentine sent him stumbling backwards to fall back onto his ass, then winked at him and slipped a crisp business card out of one of his numerous belt pouches and tossed it onto the boy's stomach before smoothly grabbing his bag and notebook and walking towards the door, but stopped and held up his right hand with his pen balanced on top again...

Then he gave it one pointedly loud spin, then smoothly rotated his hand palm up, catching the pen with all but one specific finger standing straight upwards at the humiliated boy.

The boy glanced down at the business card and held it up: All that was on it was a red heart with an archery arrow impaled through it, with a neatly written V over top in silver. The rest of the card was pitch black.

* * *

"One down, three more to go..." Valentine leaned back from his final touches to the Boost Pack's final design. He still had the prototype T-15 Exosuit in his - it was literally his now, the BSAA had hired him after a long discussion with his father - workshop, and now had to move onto the next of his four upgrades to the T-15. Thankfully he made the design simple, and even the original T-12's made by his father and the mass produced 13's had the necessary things for him to already have a head start. "Zyke, connect me to my father." Valentine tapped his earpiece for his phone back on, and his assistant, a former intern that he'd found acceptably competent, quickly stepped over to the cell phone resting in a cleared spot on the desk - Valentine's workshop was a clusterfuck of papers, components, partially assembled parts, tools and of course, his finally finished P90 was leaning within arm's reach of the youngest Darkwood. The little magnetic mechanism he'd made for the suppressor to spin itself onto the barrel was perfected and integrated into the custom gun proper.

"Calling." Zyke announced as the line connected.

"Valentine, how's the T-15 prototype coming along?" Tobias answered quickly, sounding like he was outdoors.

"First upgrade is complete, all testing and changes done, mass production can begin for the Boost Pack's right away. My next upgrade's actually been used before... by you."

"I don't follow... What did I use?"

"Your skull mask. It's ballistic grade Quinque Steel, right? My upgrade concept is just an integrated ballistic mask. I know your original T-12 has a deployment method to bring it over your head and onto your face."

"What do you have in mind for the deployment method? Most of the BSAA infantry wear helmets, headsets or other headgear. I just wear my mask, obviously."

"That's where it gets interesting. Headgear and helmets won't be necessary anymore; my plan for the mask is more than just a face mask. It'll have optical and communication components integrated."

"I think I can see the concept. Alright, since it's armour related, it's going to be put through combat and environmental torture testing, remember that."

"Don't worry, you'll like what I have in mind." Valentine smiled, then bade his father goodbye.


	9. Chapter 9

"Y'know... It's been a while since the Syndicate did anything."

Tobias chuckled at his wife's observation. "Yup."

"I dunno, something just... doesn't feel right. I mean, Wesker and Neo-Umbrella were almost riding our asses when they had their sights on us... Now it's... quiet."

"Yup." Tobias repeated, smiling as he nodded his head.

"You know something." Rize gave him a sardonic look.

"They're still the same Syndicate we lead against Umbrella. The fact they're not showing hide nor hair of themselves is because that's how we taught them to operate. We're so hidden that even those watching from the shadows have no clue we're watching them." Tobias explained as he glanced over at her on the couch. "The fact that you feel something isn't right is a sign that they're still playing by my book. New leadership aside, the methods I had them learn are simply the most effective. Hide in plain sight, control the shadows, faceless and without shape."

"Yet they're after us for some reason." Rize pointed out, and of course, Tobias nodded.

"That's true." Tobias agreed. "But they're my army, I know how they think, and how they operate. The only thing I don't know is who's leading them."

"Whoever it is, they clearly had something against us." Rize agreed.

"Wesker's at the bottom of the Pacific... HUNK's dead, Krauser's dead, Irving's in custody, Issacs is dead... My mother's been dealt with, as was Akira. Spencer's already on our side, but he's dying of cancer. All of the Raccoon City CCG are gone, none had next of kin with known reason for resentment... Every single survivor of the original Syndicate was compensated, given immunity from their involvement, and of course, they are still on good terms with us and the BSAA - which, let's be honest, is Syndicate 2.0..."

"Hey hey!" A couple voices came from the foyer as the front door was opened. "Anyone home?"

"Sherry, we're in here." Rize called around the corner as she and Tobias stood up, ending their conversation for now.

"Yo!" Jake leaned around the living room entrance, nodding respectfully to them both. "Are the girls here?"

Tobias nodded, then pointed to the back of the house, towards the large pool room. "I think they're at the bottom of the pool."

"Where's Valentine?" Jake asked, glancing at the closed basement door for a moment.

"He's sleeping, he just got home from work. Said he had some moron at school to deal with and it was a huge pain in the ass." Rize shrugged, rather unsurprised by what her son had explained happened. "Bullying someone on their first day of classes, what a piece of shit."

"Aww, I was really looking forward to bringing him with us to the beach." Sherry stuck out her lip for a moment, clearly disappointed.

"Oh, if that's all..." Kuro spoke up as she pushed the basement door open, holding it open for Valentine as he came into view, once again defying the constraints of gender. He was wearing a pair of short shorts and a loose fitting tank top with one of the shoulder straps partially hanging from his shoulder. Shiro came up last and they flanked Valentine as he blearily stared at them for a few seconds.

"I heard..." Valentine yawned loudly before continuing. "I need coffee first... Then I'll go too."

For some reason, Sherry's eyes glinted with a tell tale sparkle, even though her facial expression stayed the same. Jake was the only one to notice, but he held his tongue for the moment. He knew from Yuuki that his own face gave away his questions before he'd even asked them.

"I could use one too." Yuuki's voice came from down the hall, and a moment later she and Rachael moved into the kitchen and came into view. "Sup sexy?" She caught sight of her two partners and smiled.

"Public beach party with a concert from a couple local bands. We figured you two'd be the ones dragging _us_ to the coast." Sherry explained, then glanced over at Valentine. "We also invited your brother, apparently he had to deal with a bully at school today."

"I still think it's bullshit that you're not allowed to bring Kuro and Shiro into the building." Rachael commented as she and Yuuki collected the necessary items for theirs and Valentine's coffee's. "I mean, the two of us are allowed to bring our guns, why can't you bring your robots?"

"Under academic regulations, we cannot escort Valentine at school because we would be considered visual distractions for other students, possibly interfere with wireless signals, and of course, due to our cyberbrains, we have constant access to the internet and databases, which brings about the argument of cheating or manipulating data, such as assignment dates, marks, or even malicious data manipulation." Shiro explained. "We can, however, pick him up, drop him off, and act as intermediary contacts - excluding emergency contacts - between the school and Rize or Tobias."

"Even though you were..." Jake began, but Shiro - formerly known as Balilaika, Valentine _and_ Tobias' biological mother turned near-total cyborg - shook her head.

"Subsequently, our former identities are no longer ours. This is because we aren't organic anymore. 100% cyberized, androids, robots, they're all correct terms for us now. We're not prosthetic like Motoko, nor cybernetic like Stella. Our personalities are generated by AI, our former lives... and of course our _original_ lives, they are merely implied, irrelevant, emotionally based information that we do not need for our duties."

"You notice how neither of us refer to anyone beyond their names? Shiro doesn't call me Akira or any nicknames or pet names. Nor does she call Valentine or Tobias her sons. And, of course, I don't call her Balilaika or any of our former pet or nicknames." Kuro was assisting with making Valentine's coffee as she spoke, her gaze focused on her work.

"Wait... you two had pet names for each other?" Yuuki's cyan gaze had a very distinctive glint - which Jake, Rachael and Sherry all knew very well - as she stared between the two androids. "I gotta hear this!"

"Yuuki, c'mon, that's none of our business..." Rachael spoke up, but Shiro and Kuro shared a brief moment of eye contact before they shrugged and Kuro continued speaking.

"Rachael, we don't mind sharing. After all, our cyberbrains still contain the digitally stored memories of our former lives to actually allow us to talk about them in this manner. Motoko's idea." She added the last part when the sisters raised their eyebrows in confusion.

"Well then...?" Yuuki was clearly interested, resting her arms on the counter.

"Akira used to call me Yelena for a while, after I told her the old name... but her pet name for me was Kitty." Shiro explained, smirking for a moment before it turned into a small - rather cute - smile. "We both owned cats." She added in explanation.

Tobias let out a low chuckle at that comment, so when everyone turned towards him, he simply said. "Back when I was still a kid, I never got along with that damn cat. We hated each other. Dogs just suited me."

"That reminds me... Didn't you guys have a huge dog when we were kids? What was his name again...?"

"Odin." Tobias smiled slightly. "He was a wild Grey wolf I came across in Raccoon Forest, near the river, when things were still pretty normal and I was still dealing with the CCG. T-Virus from my body gave him the ability to speak, he was bulletproof like me, five feet tall at the shoulder, easily 150, maybe 160 pounds. Yuuki used to ride like he was a horse when she was little."

"I notice consistent use of the past tense." Rize's eyes were on her husband. Of course, she remembered Odin, who was the official-unofficial mascot for the BSAA Alpha Team that Tobias lead. He was usually over at the BSAA base, working alongside her husband like an advisor. So, the last time she'd seen the huge wolfhound was the day before he and Tobias had gone over to Eastern Europe to deal with the bioterror event that eventually escalated into the Carrier Incident, which Tobias had officially given the codename Operation Yuki-Onna... That was nearly two and a half years ago.

"Odin went MIA during one of the assaults in the mountain skirmish. Our gunfire caused an avalanche, and Odin got caught right at the last second, I was grappling a Licker and didn't get to him in time. He was considered an actual BSAA member, of course, so after the region was secure, we sent S&R teams to the last confirmed position of his GPS tracker. We found it and his gear, but not him. twelve hours later, I personally called off the search, declared him 'Presumed KIA' and spent the entire night at our command base under orders from our head medical officer. He wanted to make sure I wasn't going to lose my mind."

"Odin was Toby's best friend for ages and ages." Rize nodded. "So, sorry to divert the subject again..."

"I actually didn't have a normal nickname from Balilaika. But my pet name from her was Kiki. We were drinking one night and she kept stuttering my name at the K, so I teased her about it and she just declared that would be my name for the rest of the night... But that was it, the name stuck."

"Kitty and Kiki, that's adorable..." Yuuki actually let out a giggle. "I mean, shit, if you've got those memories for the names, why not call each other by them? Shouldn't be a big deal, right?"

Valentine accepted his mug from Kuro at that moment, she hadn't replied because she was actually thinking about it. Yuuki was right, it wouldn't be a big deal...

Valentine glanced up to see that forced neutral expression on her - very expression capable - face, then smirked as he spoke. "I don't mind you two using your pet names with each other."

Tobias' phone rang at that moment, so he excused himself to stand outside the front door, closing it behind him as he answered it.

Kuro and Shiro locked gazes again, both internally deciding whether or not to do it - which was easily visible on their faces - until they turned into small smiles and they nodded to each other.

"If they even dare to steal my _Onee-tan_ schtick, I'm gonna be super pissed..." Rachael whispered into Yuuki's ear, then teasingly nibbled Yuuki's earlobe before adding. "Isn't that right... _Onee-tan_?" Rachael put on her cheeky little Imouto voice as she spoke to her older twin.

"Bite me like that again and I'm gonna shove the purple strap-on up your ass again, you little shit." Yuuki grabbed Rachael's face in her hands, pushing her cheeks together and forcing her lips to pout. Then, just as quickly, she kissed Rachael and bit her vulnerable lower lip hard enough to draw blood. "Now we're even... _Onee-chan_."


	10. Chapter 10

Later that evening, at the end of the concert portion of the beach party, Yuuki, Rachael, Valentine, Sherry (who was getting a piggyback ride from Yuuki, half asleep) and Jake wandered away from the concert towards the darker, quieter stretches of the coastline.

"That last band sucked ass compared to the first two." Rachael commented as the sounds of partying slowly faded away, replaced by the ocean's calming waves. "But, to be fair... they had good stage presence."

"Otherwise known as the lead singer was hot." Yuuki nudged Rachael's arm with her elbow. "She was alright, I guess. You can have her. I want that guitarist from the first band, hell... fucking... _Yes_."

"She was so short! Like, holy shit Mishka's probably taller than her!" Rachael argued back.

"I like short girls!" Yuuki countered, then pointedly adjusted Sherry a bit higher on her back. "Case in point!"

"But _we're_ the same height!"

Yuuki and Rachael's argument continued for about fifteen more minutes, seemingly effortlessly ebbing and flowing between Russian, English and Japanese the same way the tide came in, then went back out merely ten feet from them.

"Hey, Valentine, you've been quiet. You alright?" Jake spoke to the youngest Darkwood with a curious glance.

"I'm just considering how best to put the fear of god into a stuck-up child in my English class. His name's Dalton."

"I get the feeling you two aren't on good terms?" Jake asked, knowing that nobody truly brought about a Darkwood's wrath unless they actually deserved it. It was just their way of dealing with nuisances like this Dalton kid... Or his own father and his stupidity.

God, Jake loved the view of the Pacific Ocean from up here...

"I was trying to bait him into giving me an indisputable reason to put him in his place... but he set himself up so perfectly that I didn't dare let such a golden opportunity slip through my fingers."

"What did you do?" Jake had seen a few new kids try to antagonize Yuuki and even Rachael - who was actually the calm one of the two - on several occasions. Few actually succeeded at getting their attention, but twice - once per twin - they actually pissed them off so much that Jake and Sherry had taken a few claw swipes and more than enough punches and kicks to take down a normal human when they'd tried - both times, together - to calm the sisters down... Which even after all that, wasn't a quick nor simple task.

"I grabbed him by the hair, slammed his face into a desk, then hauled up him back up and gave him a lecture... then I gave him one of my Heartseeker cards."

"New toy, I presume?" Jake - like nearly everyone who knew Valentine - asked the same question that followed the mention of an unfamiliar object or the name of one that he used.

"It's just a tracking device hidden inside of a thickened business card. I drew a heart with a Cupid's arrow through it and added a V on top." Valentine explained, then continued. "Anyway, so, I already know he's thrown the card out. The signal gave out while I was tracking it at work. Probably got crushed inside the garbage truck."

"Think you can give me a description of this Dalton kid and one of those cards? I think I can slip it on him for you." Jake asked, but Valentine shook his head.

"I already have a plan ready to go."

"You gonna eat him? I would, in your shoes." Jake nodded in understanding. "I mean, shit... Underneath all that beautiful ocean, my dad's got a thirty foot tungsten rod shoved up his ass through to his head, stuck in an underwater volcano. And no, he's not dead."

"I know about your dad, a bit. My sisters mentioned him and explained what they did to him once they'd jumped off the Der Reichstag."

"I took all of his assets, Toby and Motoko helped me track them all down and deal with what was legal and what wasn't. For the most part, it was all good, I just had to sort through a lot of his stuff in four different countries."

"Which countries?" Valentine was quite intrigued by that last comment. He was getting a spark of inspiration at the mention of international travel.

"Well, a lot of it was here in the US, but there was a big house - about the same size as your place - over in Germany. I put it up for sale, I didn't want the place. It sold within a few months, got good money out of the deal." Jake explained, smirking for a moment before continuing. "My dad also had a fairly normal family home over in Ireland, I figured that was his and my mom's place before he brought us to the States."

"Did you also sell that home?" Valentine knew little about Albert Wesker as a family man, but did know that Jake cared a lot for his mother before she died. The emotional connection to that home might've affected his choice.

"It's nothing special, just a typical family home in a small town. I sold it pretty quickly, but I took the money I got from it, donated it to the local Red Cross fundraiser... in cash. They were shocked and asked why I did it, so I said that someone deserved that money more than I did."

"And what about the fourth place? Where was that?" Valentine asked, looking up at Jake. That Ireland bit explained his red hair, for sure.

"Japan." Jake nodded his head slightly. "Another big house, but it's got an underground little bunker thing. Toby was the one that found it, so he and Motoko called for assistance from Public Security Section 9 and the Japanese BSAA, just to make sure it was all good down there."

"What was down there?" Valentine asked, watching as Jake withdrew his phone from his pocket and searched through it for a few seconds.

"Aside from a stockpile of small arms and a garage with a Humvee, the bunker had a huge... hangar? Yeah, that's the word Motoko used." Jake held out his phone. "Here, I took a few pictures of the thing."

Valentine examined the pictures one by one. It was a large mech, about 30 feet tall, likely 15 or 20 tonnes. "Considering what else was in there, it was someone else's project, your father just had his name on the real estate documents."

"Yeah, I figured that too." Jake nodded. "BSAA Japan have destroyed the thing, and after a few days of debating for me, I decided to have the bunker emptied and sealed with concrete. A week of renovations later, and the whole house was put up for sale, and it sold about four months later. I kept the money from the deal."

"So what do you do with the money?" Valentine asked, but then added. "If you don't mind me asking, of course."

"I just saved it all together. My mechanic job still pays my living expenses, I just have money set aside." Jake shrugged.

"Thanks, you've given me an interesting inspiration." Valentine returned his phone and smiled. "Not a mech... something better."

"Bigger, better, faster, stronger?" Jake smirked as he spoke. Of course, Valentine nodded.

* * *

"Alright, it's been a week. What's your design and where's it going?" Serenity had that glint of glee in her eyes as Valentine untied his bandana from his neck. This time, it was Rize that had driven him to Serenity's studio.

"Right here." Valentine held up a folded piece of paper between his fingers as his mother sat in a nearby waiting chair with a book, smirking slightly.

Serenity accepted the paper, opened it, and her smile stretched from ear to ear.

"Let's get started, I like where you're going with this."

* * *

"Valentine..." Miss Haley noticed right away that the youngest Darkwood had more tattoos, and inwardly wondered why his parents allowed him to get them at such a young age. "Could you read us your short story aloud, please?"

Valentine nodded, then stood up very suddenly, rightly startling Dalton right behind him - Dalton's forehead had a heavy layer of makeup to conceal the hefty scar that Valentine gave him the week beforehand. He had also been seen wearing a hat before a teacher ordered him to remove it.

Everyone could still see the scar, no matter how hard he tried to hide it.

After Valentine finished reading his story, the class politely applauded before he sat back down, resting his forearms on his desk and arching his back to coyly peer over his shoulder at Dalton's forcibly lowered gaze.

"Serenity says hello."

Dalton made that derisive, disgusted snort he was so known for, but kept his gaze down. Valentine knew he was on his phone, he could sense the damn thing!

"One of the best tattoo artists in the world, and you think her works are terrible. You should be ashamed of yourself."

"I'd be ashamed just having to meet whoever she is."

"Be my guest." Valentine placed Serenity's studio business card on Dalton's desk. "She's open until 7pm, there's a bus stop across the street from the studio."

"I don't want..." Dalton's head shot up as he glared at Valentine's cheeky smirk over his shoulder.

"Well, that's too bad. I'm already here."

Serenity's voice wasn't a whisper, and everyone turned to see her leaning on the door frame. She had a visitor's pass around her neck.

"Um... How may I help you Miss...?" Miss Haley hadn't met Serenity before, so she politely queried as Serenity smiled and extended her hand.

"Serenity Cora Avalise, I'm sorry to intrude, could I borrow Valentine? I'm guest speaking for the 12th Grade Visual Art classes shortly, and since Valentine's got three of my designs, I'd like to show them off."

Miss Haley hummed in thought for a moment, then concluded that yes, it was acceptable. "Of course, Miss Avalise. Valentine." She turned towards him, but he was already standing up and grabbing his shoulder bag. "Have a good day."

He waved as he followed Serenity through the halls to the large art workshop.

"Are the rest of us coming too?" Valentine asked, but Serenity shook her head slightly.

"No, it's just yourself, your sisters are in the class but agreed to show theirs, and Mishka's already waiting. Everyone else couldn't make it."

With that, Serenity knocked on the door and it was pushed open by Tabitha, who smiled at Valentine as they went inside to assist Serenity in her guest presentation. Yuuki and Rachael were already seated at the front of all the students, both having chosen to wear bare-back tops to expose almost their entire tattoo's.

"You're all in your final year of high school... And I've heard from your teacher that you need a bit of... inspiration. Now, I'm famous as an artist mostly for my tattoo designs, as you can plainly see on not only myself, but my family, here." Serenity gestured to hers and her fellow T-Ghoul's body art. "So let's inspire you! Bring you that spark, that tiny little moment you need to create your final piece of art! In fact, does anyone here have any sort of major project, something they're trying to make or design? Anyone. C'mon, just hand up. I myself have two tattoo's left to do for each of these three." Serenity gestured to the three Darkwood children. "Are you three doing anything?" She asked them, and the twins nodded.

"I'm going to do a painting for my final piece." Rachael explained. "Using an unusual method on a traditional concept."

"I'm going to do a sculpture, but I'm not doing doing it a traditional way." Yuuki flicked her long hair away from her face, blinking all six of her eyes as she did it.

"See? That's what I'm asking. New, innovative methods or approaches to create something! Valentine, what are you up to these days? Building any new toys worth sharing?"

Valentine paused for a moment, then smiled in that super sweet little smile that he and Serenity were both known for.

"I'm building a flying battleship."

Almost everyone laughed, but Serenity knew he wasn't kidding. She smiled widely and put her hand on his shoulder.

"Little side note: Valentine here works for the BSAA's R&D department. He's not making a joke. And that, children, is ambition, skill and tenacity. Sweetie, if you don't fly it over the school during the maiden voyage, I will not be pleased."

"And who said I was just planning it?" Valentine raised an eyebrow. "It's already under development, as we speak."

Serenity's smile couldn't get any bigger.

"Now _that_ is what I'm talking about!" Serenity announced loudly, launching into a fiery speech. "You've just gotten shown up! Now your pride's at stake! He's building a battleship! The least you can do is your art projects! Put some fire in your belly! Ice in your veins! Prove to Valentine that his flying battleship is _nothing_ compared to your final piece! Show him up, right here, right now! Do it before he _literally_ flies over your heads!"


	11. Chapter 11

"Holy fuck... you weren't joking."

All of Valentine's family were at the BSAA base, watching the youngest of them working with fluid efficiency on a 3D holgram of what was very clearly a battleship.

"Looks like it should be up in orbit." Kaneki was standing near the bow of the hologram, staring at the sleek but intimidating design with a careful eye. "How is it propelled?"

"Magnetically powered main core system, which also generates the electricity for the secondary systems. Weapons are still under development, I'm more concerned with getting it airborne." Valentine was a flurry of data checking on a tablet, adjustments directly to the hologram with a stylus-like device, and glancing at his original sketch from his pocketbook on his lap. "The Magno-Core is a larger, self-sustaining version of the first upgrade I did to the T-15 Exosuits."

"What's the projected size of the battleship, as of this hologram?" Tobias was staring at the ship, it was well designed, but he needed size. Weight. Speed. He needed the numbers before he even dared to go speak about it to the politicians in DC.

"As of this moment... It's planned for a minimum of 450 meters. If my reference and test simulations say otherwise, I can see it being up to 650 meters in length." Valentine replied, making a few more adjustments. "It's meant to land on water when it's not airborne."

"I can work with that." Tobias pulled out his phone. "What's the budget?"

"You might want to let me talk to the suits for this one, dad." Valentine halted his work and put everything onto his workbench where his P90 was hanging on the wall.

"What's the budget, Valentine?" Tobias repeated his question.

"Without armaments of any kind... My projected material, labour and testing budget would be $340 million. I already have the Magno-Core in production, since I've done the Boost Pack as a small scale version of the exact same concept."

"What about with armaments? What do you have in mind for offense? Point them out of the hologram." Tobias lowered his phone, thinking hard.

"Hang on..." Valentine scooped up the tablet and tapped out a few commands. The pale blue hologram shut off for a moment, and he held up one finger before it came back online, now adorned with sections of red that gave the battleship a threatening air, added to it's sleek intimidation. The red were cannon turrets, missile launchers and machine guns. "Alright, having these armaments adds an additional 130 million... Not including ammunition costs over time."

"So let's be fair and call it $500 million." Tobias was about to turn and leave, but then caught a subtle detail change after the hologram was updated. "What's this here?" He pointed out a raised ridge on the top of the deck. It was there before, but something about it was changed.

"It's a covered hangar. What goes inside are drones, choppers, maybe even escort VTOL's... Or a ridiculously large cannon." Valentine pointed at his pocketbook. "I figured it should have at least a few optional ideas, so I came up with a few multi-purpose configurations."

"I'm sticking with the half billion offer, we'd still have that 30 million buffer." Tobias stepped out and called a very special number in his contact list.

"One moment, Captain." The secretary receiving the call already knew what to do, and after a brief stint on hold, the line was transferred to his intended contact.

"Toby, how may I be of assistance?"

"Madam President, I have an interesting idea to present to the monkey's. It's something my son has developed for the BSAA, we just don't have the budget available to complete more than one segment of the design."

"Well, I think a family trip is in order. Shall I make the arrangements?"

"Thank you kindly, Ma'am. I await your return call. Do svidaniya."

"Do svidaniya, Toby."

* * *

"My man and my boy... Mmmm, definitely know how to wear a suit." Rize was lovingly smiling at Tobias helping Valentine properly do the knot for his tie.

"I'd rather hide my eyes from all these politicians... I'm getting a bad feeling, dunno why." Yuuki hadn't been allowed to wear the fedora that went with her silver suit - Rachael's was the same suit, but she'd also been banned from wearing the hat - so she had her long hair tied back in a tight bun, while Rachael did not since her hair wasn't long enough for a bun.

"I'll tell you back at home." Rize's tone was enough to cut the subject short, so her oldest daughter reopened her upper eyes just as a knock on the office door caught their attention.

A Secret Serviceman stepped through, cradling an M4a2 in his arms. "The meeting is beginning momentarily, please follow me."

They followed in silence for a few moments until Valentine whispered to his father in Russian. "Why is he armed? We're not at fault for anything."

"No, but we are high profile. He's protecting us. There's three more of them behind us, keeping your mother and sisters covered."

"Only four guards?" Valentine didn't quite feel the numbers adding up. Four guards escorting five VIP's.

"I'm armed too. I don't need a guard." Tobias replied. "Alice, Sere, Kaneki and Mishka also have four guards, and they're taking a different route to the same meeting. Once we're in, we'll be protected by mine and Alice's Telekinesis. You just have to do your presentation, answer their questions, and we'll be back on the plane home in an hour or less."

"Alright... I understand now." Valentine figured it out.

"Right through here." Their escort guard stopped at a set of double doors and they went right through, leaving the four guards standing outside in the hall.

"Now, as usual, Captain Tobias Darkwood of the BSAA has an unorthodox approach to his methodology. Here, with his family, they have a presentation to introduce before Congress. Now, I present his son, Valentine." The President was personally standing at the podium, her gaze reassuring as Valentine approached the podium and - as he'd been taught by Tobias - shook her hand respectfully, already sensing that she was at least partially prosthetic in both arms.

Now with the podium to himself, Valentine began his speech.

"I'll get straight to the point, using straightforward terms. Need I remind you I'm 15 years old." Valentine gave his warning to the numerous older men and women in sharp suits. "So, here I have a hologram projector, which will show the latest visual design of my project..." Valentine placed it on the podium and pressed the button.

This projector was designed to project larger than the one in his workshop, but, it showed the exact same 3D model of his battleship... nearly twenty feet in length.

"Now, I've been told you were given photocopies of my prepared document. So I'll keep it simple: This... is the Nightfall. A magnetic energy core powers this ship, providing it with lift and propulsion in both the air and in the sea. This core is self-sustaining and also provides power to secondary, electrical, and all weapons systems. It is planned to be 600 meters in length, has a crew numbering of 25 individuals, and in addition to the crew, has the capacity to hold up to 2500 soldiers in transport conditions."

Murmurs began to rise in the politicians, but Valentine continued with his presentation.

"This, however, is not the primary design concept for the Nightfall." He stared at them for a moment. "It's for combat. The ship's main methods of offense are naval style main cannons, a total of eighteen guns on seven turrets. In addition, the Nightfall is equipped with numerous missile and machine gun close combat systems, torpedo launchers, depth charges and, as shown on your document, it has the capability of carrying and launching the standard BSAA VTOL fighter jets, all manner of drone systems, and rotorcraft in the forward hangar."

The murmurs continued, and some were staring with keen interest, pointing to the hologram with their neighbours. Now, Valentine had to play his trump card.

"One last thing about the ship; It's already in development. This ship can and will keep the world over safe from the threat of bioterrorism, so let's reveal the price; Five hundred million. My design is finalized, the construction already started, and you are all we need; the BSAA's current budget for R&D isn't enough to finish the Nightfall. Now that the price tag's revealed, I'll surprise you and tell you this, as my final point; I can have this ship fully armed and airborne within six months. I've done my research, just a standard naval battleship takes nearly three times that time to get it up and ready. Half a billion, half a year, and you can rest assured that the threat of bioterror remains in check... or is even flat out eliminated."

Silence. Congress was completely silent... Then someone stood up and cleared his throat, his blonde hair ridiculously in contrast to his old, highly lined face.

"I, Congressman Donald J. Trump, cast a negative vote to approve the budget request for this child's toy."

"You're just one vote, let's hear why you think my offer isn't worth your vote. Go on." Valentine put both hands onto the edge of the podium, staring at this Trump person with keen interest.

"I believe that the funding you're requesting can be put to better use with national security for the United States, better jobs for our citizens, improving infrastructure..." Trump began, but Valentine already heard what Trump wasn't saying, so he extracted the microphone from it's cradle, grabbed and turned off the hologram, and walked right up to the aristocratic politician, staring straight up at him with a very sharp gaze and coy smirk.

"This is a proposal for an offical BSAA project, I already know what you're trying to imply, Donald. You want this battleship under the auspices of the US Air Force, or... you want it privately owned and operated along the lines of a fear weapon, to dissuade other nations from daring to start yet another World War. I may be fifteen, but I know about your first attempt at politics back in 2016. You flaunt your wealth and power, yet sacrificed on international and even intra-national relations just so you could be the biggest bully in the playground with the big, shiny red bicycle. This is not your ship, Congressman, it's mine. I designed it, I will pilot it. Without me, and I mean this literally, the Nightfall isn't able to fly because of the fail-safe I incorporated into the main power core. So, if you're scared that your wallet's going to be empty, or that my ship is emasculating, just remember this; I'm the one that designed the ship, built it, and I'm the one that's going to be it's captain. I said it at the beginning of my speech, Congressman, so I'll say it again... I'm only fifteen."

Applause broke out from all sides, so Valentine's smirk widened and he held up the microphone and dropped it at Trump's feet before walking back to his family, both of his sisters and Serenity were laughing so hard that he could hear it from there.

* * *

 **A/N: I had to get my jabs in at some point. Couldn't resist poking fun at him.  
**


	12. Chapter 12

Valentine was smart. He knew that. So after a few days after the trip to DC, he wished he'd taken the ten seconds to close the basement door behind himself.

It was Yuuki. She'd come down to the basement, having caught the sound of him singing and come to investigate. Now, she was just leaning on the door frame of his bedroom - which was just like his workshop back at work; Organized chaos - while he sat on his bed with his back against the wall, one arm resting on his raised knee.

"Wanna know a secret I figured out a while back?" Yuuki finally broke the silence between them, since Kuro and Shiro were upstairs assisting Rize with the cleaning.

"If it's related to how you just caught me singing, go right ahead." Valentine gave a shrug with his relaxed arm.

"Dad's side of the family have been badasses at music for over a hundred years. It took a while for me to get it all together, but us Darkwoods are awesome at music. Don't be scared or ashamed of your musical talent. Flaunt it." Yuuki stood upright and reached into her back pocket to get her phone. "If you want a good place to practice singing with less of a chance to get caught, here's a spot I use, it's in the storm canal, under the bridge."

She sent him the map on his phone, but Valentine spoke up. "If I wanted to join the school talent show that's coming up, would... would you help me?"

Yuuki smirked for a moment. "You're not the only one of us doing the talent show. We'll all practice together after me and Rachael get back from work, alright?"

"I thought you two didn't work today? It's Saturday."

"Saturday's one of the best days to work at a bar. People want to go for drinks most often on Friday and Saturday, mostly in the late afternoon or later. Sunday's aren't anywhere near as busy because that's the day to get over a hangover and go back to work on Monday, all fine and dandy." Yuuki explained. "Before I go get ready, what song were you singing?"

"Sing To Me, it's by Delain." Valentine held up his phone, on which the song was still paused.

"They're fucking awesome." Yuuki agreed. "While I'm gone, take a look at Nightwish, Xandria... and Lacuna Coil. Figure out what catches your eye... Well, no. Your ear."

"I'll give them a listen. Have a good night at work."

* * *

"I have a fetish for this shit, but I _hate_ wearing it! Fuck!" Yuuki grumbled under her breath in Japanese as she tried to ignore the slightly uncomfortable draft from moving too fast in her french maid outfit.

"I heard that Natasha wore this when dad was our age, living with Alice back in Raccoon City." Rachael - who actually liked wearing skirts more than Yuuki - replied in kind. "And besides, it's your fault we lost that damn bet with Jake and Sherry. They should be here by 8:30, by the way."

"Yeah, yeah, I know." Yuuki replied, then hurried to ignore her skirt's breeze as they set to filling drink orders.

* * *

Valentine decided to take Yuuki's word and go to the bridge to sing. But, because he couldn't drive, he walked there.

Along the way, as described by Yuuki's map, he passed through a local pack, where he saw a group of kids his age gathered near a park bench, some smoking, others on their phones... Including Dalton.

Valentine's eyes narrowed. He'd thought ahead and brought his Colt, but he wasn't in the mood to deal with the LAPD or even the CCG either. He also had his three staffs on his chestplate, hidden under his clothing...

"Hey, look, it's the bitch with the silver hair!"

All of them moved and had the air of being goons, but Dalton remained seated on the bench, staring down his nose as they surrounded Valentine in a rough circle, some still smoking and intentionally blowing the smoke into his face.

"Cute, still think you're so high and mighty that you need to hire some muscle for little ol' me." Valentine knew that none of them knew he was a boy, nobody had ever given him a male pronoun - or a female one, for that matter - while in their presense. "You can't hurt me, and if your goons even try, they're in for a rough surprise."

"We've already figured out who you are; you're one of those fucked up Darkwood's. You slipped up and talked about your sisters, and the teacher herself taught your sisters. So stop trying to weasel your way out of what you deserve, bitch." Dalton spoke from his - apparently - safe spot on the bench. "Grab her."

That was it, they all moved in at once, four of them restrained his arms while the two that remained crouched down and held onto his legs, leaving Dalton to slowly get up and walk over until they were only a few inches apart, continuing to stare down his nose at him, letting out a long exhale before pulling his arm back to chamber a punch...

 _WHAM!_

With a groan of pain, Dalton shook his bleeding hand, glaring at Valentine's completely calm expression and relaxed body.

"The fuck was that?!" Dalton snarled. "Lift her shirt!"

One of them reached from Valentine's back to grip the hem of his sweater, pulling it up almost to his throat to reveal the flexible segmented Quinque Steel armour that had always covered Valentine's torso, very similar to Yuuki and Rachael's usual leather corsets, in fact. If left his shoulder blades exposed, and a small part of his lower back as well, but covered in between and all of the front of his body.

"It's armour?!" Dalton stared at his injured hand, astonished, as if he'd expected this all to work in his favour.

"What, did you really think I'd just flash you my tits?" Valentine knew they'd already given him the opening he needed, but he played along with their confusion about his gender. "You'll need to treat a girl right before you get that privilege."

"What makes you think anyone wants to see your flat fucking chest? Huh? You're a piece of shit, you monster. When I figured out who your sisters were, I was shocked when I saw their eyes. You're the most normal looking one of your whole fucked up freakshow."

"I'd kiss you for that compliment if you weren't into this gangbang S&M shit." Valentine taunted, smiling that signature 'you just fucked up' smile. "But I think another ass kicking is a worthy substitute, hm?"

"You can't do fucking shit, bitch!" Dalton slapped Valentine with a sharp sound of skin on skin. "You're at _my_ mercy now, so, as my bitch, get the fuck on your knees, and do what a good bitch should." He unbuckled his belt and started to unzip his jeans as he spoke.

The goons forced Valentine forward, trying to make him kneel, but without any less than a huge struggle until Valentine - just for show - bared his teeth as if forcing himself to fight back.

" _HEY_!"

With a sharp yell, Dalton was knocked aside in a flying tackle by a running man, quickly followed by several more of his companions, giving Valentine that moment he needed.

With his full strength now, Valentine sent all of the goons flying back, forcing his Kagune out as wide as he could in that single moment.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, hey, missy, you okay? Did they hurt you?" One of the Good Samaritan men quickly got up close and protectively stood between him - Valentine's Kagune was behind himself now, but the scythe tail was dangerously swishing around to protect himself by constantly moving his weapon - and the angry group of boys. "I'm a Koukaku too, it's all cool."

And he did just that, one Koukaku Kagune was added to the mix, and the boys hesitated before backing off, leaving Dalton trapped flat on his face with one of the good guys sitting on his back.

"I'm fine, but I want to deal with him personally." Valentine was thankful his shirts had been lifted up so high, his Kagune's hadn't torn his clothing. "Get off of him, he's mine now."

"Should I even ask?" The group of men - all seemed to be Ghouls - brought Dalton to his feet, better restraining him than the amateur goons he'd used. He was presented to Valentine in the same pose he'd tried to do, in reverse. His gross little bun at the back of his head made it child's play to grab his head and bring it up to force the eye contact that Dalton was trying to avoid.

"I'm going to have some fun with him... _My way_." Valentine smiled sweetly, mere centimeters away from his face, like they were about to actually kiss. "By the way... I'm a _boy_." He whispered with that signature sickly-sweet tone and sadistic smile.

* * *

Yuuki and Rachael were busily handling the drinks and food orders at the bar until a loud bang caught their attention and Yuuki yelled over all the conversations and clattering cutlery.

"HEY! NO FIGHTING!"

"Now that's ironic coming from you, Yuuki..."

Both twins looked up to see Valentine almost literally dragging some boy his age behind him by the hair into the bar.

"Ray, I got this." Yuuki, ever the eldest, immediately stepped out from behind the bar and approached her little brother, speaking in Russian. "Alright, what the hell are you doing here, let alone with this kid? I thought you were singing at the bridge?"

"I was on my way there when this gnat decided to hire some muscle and try to fight me." Valentine replied in kind. "This is that Dalton kid I told you guys about. He's not for food. He's in need of a _serious_ attitude adjustment. Think you could give me a hand?"

"Well... I'm not exactly dressed for the task..." Yuuki turned her head, averting her gaze. "I lost a bet, long story. Anyway, I need you to tell me what they did to you, from the very beginning, alright? Come sit at the bar, talk only in Russian to us, ignore everyone else, I'll deal with the meatsack." Yuuki gave her brother a one-armed hug, giving him his instructions in a whisper while she was close to his ear, then they separated and Dalton tried to scramble to his feet, only for two very large bikers to step in front of the door and cross their arms.

"You, shitstain." Yuuki glared at Dalton as she switched back to English, who was scared shitless by the sudden outcome of events. "I'm about to hear from Valentine what went down. You're not going anywhere. Welcome to your worst nightmare, shall I get you a beer? You're fucked anyway, so I don't give a shit that you're underage."

"Just wait until my father hears about this!" Dalton spat onto Yuuki's face, earning a small chuckle from her and causing the whole bar to fall totally silent, only his slightly high pitched voice being heard as Yuuki - thematically fitting her outfit - wiped the spit from her mouth with the thumb of her white gloved hand, still chuckling as she stepped up to him, and he backed away like a scared rat.

"You're lucky _my_ father hasn't heard about this. Notice how the whole bar's gone quiet after you did that? That's because I've earned the respect of my friends, and my customers. You're a weak little parasite, forced to purchase your power from others, only to flaunt it when you don't have your own. Valentine's going to tell me what you did, but I'm not stupid. I already have an inkling of what you were planning to do..." Yuuki's solid cyan eyes made it impossible to tell she'd just looked down at Dalton's still open zipper. "Not like you have the right _equipment_ or _skills_ to do it in the first place."

"I know about you and your fucktoys. Parading around, calling yourself the Spider Queen, lording over your fans on that gaudy website of yours. I'd say go fuck yourself, but I'd be afraid to be credited for all the porn that might come out of it!"

 _WHAM!_

It wasn't Yuuki that punched him, it was one of the patrons, a normally respectable businessman that always came in on Saturdays for dinner with his wife, who herself had a hand on Yuuki's shoulder, asking if she was alright.

"You see, kid? I earned my respect. If you try anything with or to Valentine ever again, you'd better run back to daddy as fast as you can, 'cause if the wrong person finds out what you did, they'll deal with you however _they_ feel is necessary."

"You disgust me..." Dalton didn't seem to know when to shut his mouth, but Valentine came marching right up to them, shoved his sister aside and dove on top of Dalton, mouth first, and tore off his target with a spray of crimson blood.

Of course, Dalton screamed in fear and pain, but Valentine spat out the bloodied denim and shoved the particular piece of flesh straight into Dalton's wide open mouth, deep into his throat.

Dalton struggled to breathe, slowly turning red, then blue, but nobody made a move to help him, even as his eyes bulged in his head. But then Valentine raised his hand and it came shooting right out of his mouth into that hand, catching it with a wet splat and a small tink of metal that remained attacked to a scrap of the jeans.

"Now it's without a doubt that you've got no balls. So, Dalton, go run back home to daddy and tell him how you tried to rape me with six of your friends, tell him how you assaulted me, forced me into a corner, about how you bully me at school. I'm not your bitch... You're _mine_. So go. Go crawl back to daddy, see how far you make it before those nice gentlemanly Ghouls that pulled you off of me catch the scent of your blood and go in for the kill."

The entire bar broke out into applause, and to further his point, Valentine seductively squeezed the small, bloodied dick over his mouth, tilting his head back, messily dripping the blood into his mouth before grabbing Dalton by the jaw and forcibly filled his mouth with his own blood.

"I'm keeping your balls, but there's that kiss I owed you for complimenting me."

Dalton couldn't escape the bar fast enough, only to be heard seconds later from outside, retching loudly and crying as the entire bar roared with laughter.


	13. Chapter 13

Dalton didn't come into class for two weeks, and in that time, a new student had temporarily taken over his seat, a bespectacled African girl named Sheva Alomar.

Apparently, earlier in the school year, she'd been attacked by a shark at the beach, but because of prosthetics laws, she wasn't allowed to get her missing arm replaced until she turned 18. Of course, that also meant she had to spend a long time in the hospital to recovery, and only now was she ready to go back into the world.

For some reason that he couldn't comprehend, Valentine felt the need to help her in some way, any way! He knew he could regenerate a missing arm within minutes, so the mere thought of only having the one made him do a secret project.

After getting her to admit how tall she was, Valentine set to work calculating out the proper measurements for her missing right arm, painstakingly working on the metal limb in secret, his ever-calculating mind already planning out how to get her alone in a way that wouldn't pin the blame on him. He had it all figured out, and the arm - which was Quinque Steel, his most easily accessed metal that wouldn't easily succumb to rust - was ready to be attached... He just needed to get ahold of her, like he'd planned out.

* * *

Sheva walked back home from school, tightly gripping the strap of her shoulder bag, which was the exact same one as that really cute girl that sat in front of her, the one with the sparkly silver hair and the tattoo's.

Sheva idly wondered why the girl had those tattoo's, she couldn't be old enough, even with parental permission... right? What was her name again?

So preoccupied with her thoughts, Sheva didn't realize she'd absent-mindedly taken a detour to avoid some sidewalk maintenance, passing into an open alley to head for the next street. The next thing she knew, she was being grabbed from behind by someone that had some sort of clinking and rattling metal bracelets on their arms. She couldn't scream fast enough as a gag went into her mouth and a syringe went into her neck.

* * *

Sheva's head hurt, and it felt like her mouth was full of cotton. She groggily opened one eye, then both, immediately realizing that her glasses had been removed and she could barely see.

"Good, you're awake."

With a gasp, Sheva turned her head to see the fuzzy outline of someone wearing white, seated on a chair in the corner of the room.

"You were attacked by a Ghoul, they tore off a chunk of what remained of your arm, so I fixed you up, figured you might... and please pardon the terrible pun, I thought you might need a hand."

The voice was hard to identify. It was certainly accented, but the way they spoke, slightly musical in the way their voiced flowed through the words, made it impossible to determine their gender. Sheva reached forward, only for the person to stand up and she caught a glint of blue eyes as they pressed something into her outstretched hand.

"I wasn't joking about giving you a hand. I'm an expert in the field of mechanics and robotics."

Sheva recognized that shape, it was her glasses. She quickly flicked them open and put them onto her face, bringing the person into full, proper focus...

It was the girl from her English class... The one with the silver hair and tattoos!

"How did you...?" Sheva couldn't understand, but the girl giggled slightly.

"I'm a bit of a tinkerer, I build things, I fix them... I happened to have a spare arm for an android I own, swapped out a couple parts, put a few new ones in, and voila, you now have a certified cybernetic right arm." The girl sat on the edge of her bed - she seemed to be in some sort of hospital room - and smiled at her. "My name's Valentine, you seem to remember me already, I just haven't told you my name."

"So you did this in a back alley? What, were you just carrying the arm with you or something?" Sheva asked with a raised eyebrow, then glanced over at her right side, realizing that Valentine had indeed given her a metal arm.

"Yeah, I was. What part of tinkerer didn't make sense?" Valentine giggled again. "I know a cybernetics expert, she can help you do the physiotherapy to get used to having your right arm again. I remember you said it was about six months ago that you were injured, so I don't really think that you'd have the muscle memory or fine motor function anymore."

"I think I'll be fine, I'm left handed anyway." Shevea flexed the fingers on her metal hand, then tested them all, one by one, going through the various movements and actions until she seemed to remember how to do things with it again. "See? It's easy, once it get's going."

"Well, you seem fine to me, I mean, I did the arm installation and the calibr..." Valentine started speaking, but suddenly trailed off, his cheeks turning pink as he averted his gaze, embarrassed by the look that Sheva was giving him.

"Why do you tinker?" Sheva suddenly asked after he'd fallen silent, which startled him and made him look back at her to find her smiling slightly in amusement.

"I... why do I..." Valentine stumbled through trying to speak, having been completely derailed by her unexpected question. "I just... _Do_. I don't really... I have... I just..." He was getting flustered, trying to put his short circuiting brain back into order again, but utterly failing.

"C'mere." Sheva shifted herself into a seated position, beckoning Valentine closer with a curl of her metal index finger. "Closer, like, really close."

Valentine hesitated for a moment, then shifted himself closer along the side of the bed, urged even further a few more times until Sheva reached out and grabbed him by surprise with her left hand and pulled him into a kiss, which unfortunately fried his entire mental capacity and stunned him into shocked silence, unable to even push her away or escape.

"It's okay, I just... wanted to reward you for saving me. I mean, I know I shouldn't, since we're both girls and I'm not sure if you're a lesbian or if you're bi, or pan..."

"I'm a _boy_."

Of all the things to reboot first and come out of his mouth, it had to be that. Valentine's mistake, however, turned the tables between them; He'd just kickstarted himself back to full capacity, while Sheva just froze, unable to immediately process what she'd just done.

"I... I'm gender fluid. I don't fulfill normal gender norms or behaviours, so I just... do both. I dress like a boy or a girl, it doesn't matter to me. I like to tinker, take stuff apart, figure out how it works... put it together, or build something from scratch. It's not a fixed gender role, so I just... feel comfortable doing it. My sisters play video games, work at a bar, and go surfing a lot. I build robots, machines and fix things, make them better..."

Valentine trailed off again, losing his train of thought as he noticed Sheva's metal fingers curling into the light blanket on her legs. She was about to say something.

"Did I... offend you?" Sheva spoke in barely above a whisper. "When I kissed you, I mean..."

"No." Valentine shook his head slightly to each side. "Like I said, I don't fit normal gender behaviour. It doesn't matter if someone's a boy or a girl, if I like them, I like _them_. It's not really complicated."

"What about that boy that was walking funny? The one that's scared of you and got mad at me for sitting behind you in English?" Sheva was referring to Dalton's first day back in class - Dalton was too ashamed to admit what happened, but they all knew he was already scared of Valentine - a few days earlier, when he'd argued with their teacher about the seating arrangements. He now sat across the room in the back corner because Valentine had suddenly stood up and pointedly shoved him back into another nearby desk with his knee between Dalton's legs and licked his lips with a very hungry grin on his face before telling him off.

"I don't..." Valentine paused for a moment. "I'm not exactly a normal person..."

"I figured that much out, y'know." Sheva replied, but Valentine shook his head.

"I mean I'm not human. I'm a special kind of Ghoul... Called a T-Ghoul." Valentine was trying not to scare her, since - at least in her mind anyway - she'd just survived being attacked by a Ghoul.

"You mean... Your last name that's been redacted from all your school stuff... You're a Darkwood."

"I take it you've seen my family's show?" Valentine knew about the camera crews that were often at their house, but he was rarely home during the hours that the crews were there - they knew he existed and that he had a job - so his appearances in the episodes were scarce, at best.

"Yeah, a few times. I've never seen you on the episodes though." Sheva was still nervously gripping the blanket, as if steeling herself for something in particular.

"I have a job, so by the time I get back home, the cameras are usually packing up to leave or they're already gone." Valentine explained. "So, can I ask you what's making you so nervous? Is it me being a T-Ghoul... or..."

Sheva finally gave up with her resistance, grabbing Valentine around the waist with her metal arm, while her flesh one slid around his back and gripped the back of his head, pulling him back into her embrace, immediately kissing him before he could resist - she figured that taking him by surprise was better than fighting against his potentially superior physique.

She felt his metal armour under his clothes, the numerous pouches on his belt were laden with various things, she could feel his hidden gun, and his hair, his lips, they were so soft, so perfect. She couldn't help herself, she was just so drawn to him like a magnet that it had taken almost all of her efforts to remain focused on their conversation, but she couldn't handle it anymore, she just wanted to kiss him, to love him, to hold him...

Yes! Yes, that was it! She _loved_ him!


	14. Chapter 14

**A/N: Once again, here is the Darkwood concert. As with the previous two stories, listen to the songs while you read, and enjoy!**

* * *

With the lead up to the school talent show taking up so much of everyone's time, nobody could really spare any time for side projects or the like. They had their faces to the grindstone - Valentine included, which Sheva, now his girlfriend, understood completely and didn't give him a hard time about it - so that their performance would be perfect.

Like with previous years, the Darkwood siblings were a big multi-song concert at the end of the entire talent show, to which all nine of them would be performing. Valentine, who wasn't much of an instrument player, was planning to sing a solo song, then would later join the rest of his family for their group performance. Of course, his sisters had their own parts, but everyone else, even Kaneki and Mishka, would likewise be doing a particular portion of their own, or a duet, like his parents.

Now, on the evening of the talent show, Valentine finally got the opening he'd been looking for. Everyone was ready, all waiting to drive over to the high school for the start of the talent show - to watch the other students, then get ready for their group portion at the end - when Valentine entered the living room and spoke up.

"I have something unrelated to announce, and I'm not really sure how to say it, so I guess I'll just do it..." Valentine shrugged, then nodded to Sheva, who had been nervously hiding around the corner for her cue. "I'd like to introduce everyone to Sheva."

Twenty four pairs of glowing eyes turned to see Sheva step out and nervously stand close to Valentine, staying quiet until Yuuki started to chuckle.

"You two look so _cute_ together."

Smiles broke out, then Serenity piped up. "I'm sure Valentine's told you about us, right? We won't hurt you, ever. Alright? We're not as scary as you might think."

"Speak for yourself, Sere!" Valentine frowned, since Sere was the scariest one out of all nine of them! "You're the Yandere, remember?!"

"Now, now, you didn't have to go saying that! I was avoiding that particular detail for a _reason_ , sweetie." Serenity teased, but smiled at Sheva. "I only get messy to people that seriously deserve it. I like you already, so you don't need to worry, Sheva."

"You'll get used to it, trust me." Valentine whispered to Sheva as Tobias stood up and approached them, his staggering height making her gulp slightly before he crouched down onto one knee and smiled warmly at her.

"It's nice to meet you, Sheva. Would you care to join us at the school talent show?"

* * *

Amidst the humour, dramatic, musical and various other talent acts, the parents and students filling the auditorium were polite with their applause and cheers, going through act after mundane acts for the entirety of the talent show. Sheva, seated beside Valentine and his aunt Mishka - apparently her name was actually Tabitha - both of them linked at the elbow until word from Tobias came that it was time for them to sneak backstage to get ready for the end of the other students' acts.

"You can do it, Val!" Sheva gently kissed him as she whispered to him. He returned the kiss, nervously smiling at her little wave as they all snuck out with ease and went backstage.

Since they had done this before, twice now, they'd gotten ready in record time, got into position at the back of the curtained stage during the second last act, and prepped their various instruments and adjusted their outfits accordingly. In all that time, the final act was nearing completion and applause broke out.

"Cloak." Serenity whispered as she used her Photokinesis to turn everyone not involved in the first song completely invisible to the crowd.

"And now, the moment you've all been waiting for! As is tradition, the Darkwood family will now take the stage, performing their signature musical prowess!" The student MC announced into the microphone, and the curtain rose, just revealing Rize and Tobias, much to the crowd's curiosity.

"We're switching things up a bit since last year." Rize explained into her micrphone. "We'll be doing a few duets, plus two songs as a whole group. Some of us also have single songs, and if you ladies and gentlemen remember from last year, our encore requires you to cheer until we say you've earned it!"

The crowd began to applaude, but Tobias held up one hand, the other resting on the top of his signature guitar. "We haven't even told you what song we're going to sing... Why are you clapping?" Some of the crowd laughed, and he chuckled into his headset - he needed his hands for the guitar, and using his Telekinesis for a wired mic would just get in the way, as they'd proven last year - then he smiled and said. "Myself and Rize are going to be singing **What Lies Ahead** , by **Semblant**. Next will be Yuuki's song."

With that, and a short applause, they began to sing the powerful vocals, with Tobias playing his guitar and singing the male vocals, including the aggressive screaming.

As expected, the crowd were cheering when they came to the end of the song, but they suddenly vanished into thin air, simultaneously replaced by Yuuki and Rachael, both of whom were wearing their identical leather outfits and their biker jackets with their spider logo's on the backs.

"Yo!" Yuuki giggled slightly as the crowd gawked. "I'm up first, then it'll be Rachael's song after. We're doing duets, so after us will be Valentine."

"You forgot to tell them what yours is..." Rachael reminded her - they were leaning on each other's shoulders with headsets like their dad.

" **ARS Nova** , it's the intro for **Arpeggio of Blue Steel**." Yuuki shrugged as if it didn't really matter.

And like that, the three time singer of the Darkwood concerts set into motion, singing in both Japanese and English alongside her twin, the fast paced then relaxed, then fast again moments of the song ebbing and flowing like the ocean waves, accented by their masterful stage presence throughout the whole song.

"Now, unlike my sister, I won't forget to tell you what we're singing for my song. It's called **Pomp and Circumstance** , an old **Vocaloid** song we really like. And, just for you, we're going to sing it in English. _Enjoy~!_ " Rachael blew a kiss across the crowd and started singing with Yuuki.

Near the end of the very provocative song, with a cheeky wink at the crowd, both sisters swung their arms out wide open, causing a wall of water to suddenly rise up and fall back down, but instead of splashing and making a mess, it split into an imitation of the red curtains behind them, splitting apart to reveal Valentine standing alone, smirking widely as he winked right at Sheva before speaking.

" **Valentine** , by **Xandria**. After me, it'll be Serenity's duet with Alice." Valentine had a wired mic, and with his surprisingly powerful soprano voice, he sang to an absolutely speechless crowd. Nobody had expected him to have such a potent voice or so much skill, in fact, most were still struggling to verify his gender!

And just like before, he vanished into thin air the second the song ended, but nobody reappeared in his place for several seconds until Serenity and Alice seemed to shimmer out of nowhere at centerstage.

"Ooooh, yeah, that definitely got their attention." Serenity teased into the mic. "Well, We're singing a special song to us, it's called **Crime Scene** , by **Eve To Adam**. After us will be Kaneki, he's gonna be drumming _and_ singing, right?" She turned to Alice who nodded.

"He chose a good song too." Alice smiled before adding. "Now, let's get started, before you make another mess."

With a laugh, they both sang the song in a surprisingly skilled duet style, despite the singe vocalist. The crowd started to cheer as it ended, then a flash of orange flames erupted from the drum set behind them, and they just faded away like the Cheshire Cat, leaving Kaneki to idly twirl his bright red drumsticks in his fingers.

" **Another Way to Die** , by **Disturbed**. Last of the individual acts will be Tabitha, otherwise known as Mishka. Once her song finishes, we'll all stop playing mind games with you and sing two songs together as a group. Now, onwards..."

With that, Kaneki started up the drum intro and eased into the vocals, quickly filling the auditorium with the vibrations of his drumming as his scarlet-painted drumsticks left afterimages in the air against the black back-curtains behind him.

Suddenly, just as the guitar solo began, Tobias suddenly reappeared in a flash of his bright blue fire and took over the solo with flawless timing, his eyes already ignited with Cryo-fire as he played. Once the solo ended, he just faded away again, like it was nothing.

Cheering exploded out as he did that, and with a shark bang and a huge burst of electricity, Tabitha suddenly appeared in her own way, her Ukaku wings - the infamous Thunderbird mask firmly on her face - spread out wide to bring all eyes on her.

"My song's not much of a surprise... **It's Electric** , by **Metallica**!" Tabitha's voice came out from under the raven-like beak with the circular lenses glinting with the yellow light of her eyes as she started to strum her bass with the fast paced song, only for Tobias and Kaneki to just reappear in bursts of their respective flames and play alongside her while she sang.

With three of them on stage, it felt much more like a concert now, so most of the crowd started to cheer and some even sang along with her until the ending, earning raucous applause from all of the adults and most of the students.

Then, just as if they'd received a silent cue, the rest of the Darkwood's stepped forward from within the invisible veil, all smirking as Tobias spoke into his headset over the applause and cheers.

"We figured you'd like that little surprise reappearance. Now, so... You've heard us all separately... Now let's go with our family tradition. You should recognize it in the first... five, ten seconds." Tobias didn't even say what it was, instead Kaneki just began that oh-so-familiar drum intro, then Tobias did that special vocal effect that went right with it: "Oh-wah-ha-ha-ha!"

The crowd lost it, **Down With The Sickness** was synonymous with their family name, as it was the intro music for the Darkwood show since the very beginning of the first season and still used to this day.

When the song ended, the cheering and clapping did not, so all nine of them held up their hands to signal for quiet. Now it was time for a change of pace, and a new song.

"So, symbolism aside, we've got a new one for you this year." Yuuki spoke into her headset as she took a couple steps back to form a line with all of her family, Kaneki stepping out from the drum kit, and her father and aunt lowering their own instruments as they formed a straight line across the stage. " **Baba Yetu** , by **Christopher Tin**."

Kaneki was the one to start the pace, then Alice, Serenity and Tabitha joined in, then the twins, then Valentine, and finally Rize and Tobias took their roles as they completely threw a curveball at the crowd again, stunning them into utter silence.

The choir-like song, with it's powerful, emotional music had many people in the crowd in tears as their combined voices - without any instruments playing at all - sent vibrations through everyone's chests.

As the song gently tapered to a close, the crowd was silent for a moment before they started to clap, one by one, a slow applause that rose into a thunderous roar, even louder than how they just sang.

"I think they've earned that encore." Tobias smirked as he signaled for calm, which took a few long moments. "So, I think a certain someone among us has requested to sing the encore by themself; Isn't that right, Valentine?"

Valentine smiled as the crowd started to cheer, and he was given a huge burst of confidence to see that Sheva was clapping too, her cheeks trailed with a few glittering tears.

" **Nightfall**... by **Xandria**." Valentine nodded with a smirk as everyone gave him smiles and winks before fading back through Serenity's invisibility illusion.


	15. Chapter 15

"You should reload before you go in there." Rachael was idly scrolling through her phone, browsing through some anime merch she liked, while Yuuki was at the helm for their playthrough of Biohazard 4 for their livestream. "I played this part earlier before the game crashed, remember?"

"I don't have any extra 12 gauge ammo left. And you fuckin' burned up all our damn Steyr ammo during that dumb cabin fight. So, we're stuck with these six shells, like, two extra mags for the Luger, and what... four sniper rounds? Yo, chat! Can we all agree that once we get our claws on the Magnum, neither of us touch it unless it's an emergency?" Yuuki checked their inventory, which, aside from their weapons - the Red9 pistol, the default shotgun, the TMP, and the bolt-action Rifle - was mostly empty aside from the aforementioned pistol ammo, and a rather respectable stock of healing items.

"I already know what's in there, and I say that you need a couple more bullets than what you're working with." Rachael countered. "If you cluster them in the doorways, then I think you'll be able to get a multi-kill or two." She looked up from her phone as she said the last part. "But, yeah, I agree about the Magnum. Bosses or emergencies only."

But, Queens, you should replace your current weapons for the new ones at the next Merchant! Your shotgun and rifle need to be replaced, but the new pistol isn't as good as the Red9!

"He's right, y'know..." Yuuki read the chat while the game was still paused, reaching over to her plate of human foods - she'd just tossed the plate of food together, mixing familiar items with new ones - and munching on a very crunchy piece, but then pulled it out of her mouth and stared at it. "What's this?"

"Fuckin' loud, that's what." Rachael looked at the chunk of food in her twin's hand, then smirked. "It's a carrot, you moron!"

"I know this might sound childish, but I'm not really a fan of what are these called again... Oh, vegetables. Don't get me wrong, I like most fruits, I just can't stand a lot of vegetables." Yuuki tossed the last piece of the carrot into her mouth and chomped down on it loudly as she unpaused the game and proceeded to enter the door she'd been standing in front of.

I thought that Ghouls, even you T-Ghouls, couldn't eat human fare? Am I missing something?

"Well, you're half right." Rachael put her phone down onto the desk, keeping one set of eyes on her twin's progress while another set was on the chat. "Normal Ghouls can't eat that without puking. But, two years ago, just before I was cloned, Jake's dad, Albert Wesker, injected her with another Virus he'd made. It's called the C-Virus. C meaning Chrysalis, like bugs. So, after she got captured by Wesker, dumbass made me, we deal with him accordingly, and our dad recently found out from one of Wesker's lackey's that the C-Virus had a side-effect on Ghouls, which neutralized that enzyme we produce, the one that normally prevents us from being able to eat anything except flesh. So, there you have it..." Rachael explained, then noticed Yuuki was pursing her lips nervously, and of course, she couldn't help but smile at her sister's aprehension at the eerily quiet area. "Don't say I didn't warn you~!"

"It can't be that big of a deal!" Yuuki countered, making their character kick a door open. "It's not like we're going up against that chainsaw motherfucker from the village..." Yuuki scoffed, turning the corner and initiating a cutscene.

The literal dawning comprehension on Yuuki's face for the next three seconds was accompanied by utterly shocked silence, watching the not one, but two chainsaw wielding enemies as they appeared and dropped in to fight her... until Yuuki tossed the controller onto the desk, slammed her hands onto the keyboard to hit Alt and F4, completely shutting down the game.

"I DO NOT HAVE ENOUGH BULLETS FOR THAT BULLSHIT!"

Rachael almost fell out of her chair from laughter, and the chat seemed to sympathize.

"I speak from experience when I say there is no such thing as having enough bullets." Tobias' chat message popped up, and Yuuki shook her head with a sigh.

"I'd like to see you try that fight with what we have for ammo." Yuuki challenged her father sassily.

"Turn the game back on, I'll be upstairs shortly."

"Oh fuck..." Rachael stopped laughing, staring at Yuuki in shock. "What did you just do?"

"What?!" Yuuki asked incredulously as she restarted the game, bringing up their saved data from a few minutes earlier, not far from where they'd just been. "I asked dad for help!"

"You didn't ask, you challenged me." Tobias spoke up from the other side of the door as he pushed it open. "And since I've been watching the whole time, I know your current ammunition and status. Controller please."

Yuuki handed over the controller and watched as her father turned away from the door they'd gone through, walked up to the nearby Merchant, and upgraded the capacity stat of their Shotgun, and their TMP, just once for each, then handed the controller back with a smirk.

"Your welcome." Tobias smirked before he chuckled and explained. "Upgrading the capacity of your guns refills the improved magazine for free. I know you two are saving your money, but that was a necessary course of action."

"Oh..." Yuuki blinked a few times in surprise. "Well in that case, thanks dad."

"I also recommend replacing your pistol, as much as the chat disagrees." Tobias glanced at the available pistols. "I played this game years ago, I used the starting pistol for my entire first playthrough."

"I really like the one that bitch in the red dress was using. What's it called?" Rachael recalled a recent cutscene where said woman saved them from an enemy and promptly vanished.

"The Blacktail. I tried all of the guns in my second and even my third runs of the game, It's good enough, I just liked the default one better." Tobias explained.

* * *

"So... you must be that crossdressing faggot my son told me about."

"Oh fuck, here we go..." Valentine muttered under his breath in Russian as he glared over his shoulder at Dalton's father, a tall but pudgy, greasy haired man with equal parts grime and acne on his scruffy face. "I suggest you watch your mouth, I can already tell you'll be easier to deal with than what's left of your son, both mentally and physically."

"I'll do whatever I fucking please, you fairy!" The man tried to grab Valentine's shoulder, but with a quick reversal, Valentine had his Colt pressed under the man's jaw, which likewise earned collective gasps from several people surrounding them in the cafe, which was near the school. They wisely chose to back away, some even leaving the building entirely.

"Then by all means, do as you please. I, of course, shall do the same." Valentine cheekily tapped the man's neck with the side of his gun. "And that includes blowing your brains out on a whim."

"I can press charges on you!"

"Really?" Valentine released his grasp on the man's arm and withdrew his gun, only to replace it with one of his family calling cards, the BSAA, CCG and Umbrella logo's - as always - boldly emblazoned on the surface. "I'd love to see you try."

"The fuck's that supposed to mean?!" He tried to grab Valentine again, but with little more than a glance and flick of his wrist, he shot the man's kneecap with a smirk on his face, causing the remaining civilians to scream and take cover as he thudded flat on his face at Valentine's feet.

"It means I have some very potent diplomatic immunity." Valentine crouched down and rested his right hand - the one with his gun - on his raised knee. "So not only can you not do anything to me, neither can the police, nor the CCG. In fact, count yourself lucky that I'm not hungry right now. Just do me a favour and hang onto this for a while, dah?" He gently placed the calling card within easy reach of the wounded man before picking up the fallen shell casing and used his Magnokinesis to - painfully - extract the mangled but still intact hollow point .45 ACP Q-bullet from the man's leg, drawing it out for just a few lovely seconds longer than necessary.

* * *

The next day, at school...

"Daddy's even more of a little bitch than you are. Looks like I need to improve my obedience regime on the two of you, hm?" Valentine didn't care that everyone was listening, in fact, to the unknowing fool - which, sadly, all of his classmates save for Sheva were unknowing fools - it was a highly sexually charged comment that made them all raise eyebrows at the implication of not only Dalton's, but also his father's fetish for gender based powerplay... With Valentine.

"I'm not scared of you." Dalton spoke quietly through his teeth at Valentine, whose hand shot straight out and grabbed Dalton by the ear, dropping him down to one knee to grovel at Valentine's feet.

"Oh believe me... What I've done to you already... That shit can't hold a candle to what I have in mind for you, my two playthings." Valentine spoke in a low but husky whisper, just like an actual dominatrix, his face forming that signature Yandere-like smile.


	16. Chapter 16

"So..."

Dalton and his father both groaned, quickly finding themselves handcuffed together, and shackled to the floor with bags over their heads. They reached up with their free hands and wrenched the bags off and realized they were beneath the only light source in the dark area, a single hanging overhead circular light.

"Now that you two are conscious... I'd like to play a game with you."

They both turned around. They knew who was speaking, but neither of them could see where Valentine was located.

"The rules are simple; Entertain me. To do so, you have to escape from that handcuff... But with a twist. If you try to pull it off manually, I'll use my T-Virus power over magnetism to put it back on. No, you play by _my_ rules."

"How about you go fuck yourself, you faggot!" Dalton's father called angrily, still barely able to support much weight - and he weighed quite a bit - on his wounded leg, courtesy of Valentine of course.

"I have a girlfriend, I have no further need to do that." Valentine taunted, then suddenly two serrated buck knives dropped from either side of the overhanging circular light. "You may begin arguing once you've clued in."

Both of them stared at each other in silence, the figurative loading bars slowly filling up above their heads for several long, painstakingly SLOW moments.

Then, like two rabid dogs fighting over a bone, they dove for the same knife, causing it to clatter far out of reach. They began punching and grappling each other for the second knife, grunting, snarling and swearing while accompanied the sound of the constantly rattling chains.

"Oooooooh, I wonder if they figured out what I meant directly... Not what I implied." Valentine spoke to himself in Russian, watching the proceedings with a very pleased expression on his face. "Oh well... They're damn close to retarded anyway, so no harm done."

Both of them didn't hear Valentine's Russian commentary, not that could understand it in the first place. They just continued fighting each other, desperately trying to escape from the clutches of someone they both heavily thought to be utterly insane. They didn't realize they'd both misinterpreted Valentine's meaning with the knives, even after about ten minutes of fighting and they both laid on their backs, panting for breath, with both knives far out of reach.

"Awww, looks like they broke." A female voice suddenly accompanied Valentine, causing Dalton to gasp sharply and look around for the set of six glowing blue eyes that went with it. "Pathetic humans, thinking they're better than us at our own game."

"I agree. At least the Raccoon City CCG put up a good fight... and a good show." Another female voice - older, but clearly purely Japanese - joined in.

"I second that motion." Another woman, American, chuckled darkly.

"Third!" A super bubbly voice chimed in with a very feminine giggle.

"What's the deal with the fat one's leg? What did you do to him, Val?" What sounded like the first voice spoke up, clearly having noticed the bandages on Dalton's father's leg.

"Shot him, by the look of it. Definitely putting that training to good use." A deep, heavily Russian accented voice rumbled through the darkness, sounding amused.

"Oh, you see, this was all training too." Another female spoke up, speaking oddly fast compared to everyone else. "Ain't that right?"

"I noticed the reference before you provided them with the knives, to be honest." A male, soft spoken Japanese voice spoke up, sounding like they were smiling. "A Yandere you are, but Jigsaw... You are not."

"WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH YOU PIECES OF FUCKING SHIT?!" Dalton's dad scrambled to his feet, dragging Dalton up with him unceremoniously. "WHEN I GET OUT OF HERE, I WILL PERSONALLY MAKE YOUR LIVES A MISERABLE FUCKING HELL!"

"There's no need to yell..." Valentine suddenly spoke up as he stepped into the circle of light, quickly followed by his eight family members. All nine of them had their Kakugans active. "We're right here... And I'd love to see you _try_ to make our lives a miserable fucking hell... From Hell." Valentine flashed his Yandere smile for a moment. "The little one's mine. Everyone else... enjoy the fat bastard."

* * *

"I must be getting too damn old for this crap." The CCG Investigator grumbled as he closed his notebook and slid his pen through the coil. "And I thought we all agreed you have to leave before we get here?"

"I'll let Valentine explain, since this was his idea." Tobias cut a very intimidating presense wherever he went, but that was no thanks to the fact he was six foot seven. But right now, in his sharp all black suit, with an unlit cigar firmly clamped between his lips, he was utterly relaxed.

"Where is Valentine?" The Investigator glanced around for a moment, unable to find him until he felt a tap on his shoulder. "Alright, Valentine, could you please explain what went on here? This looks like something out of one of those old Saw movies."

"Short and sweet version: Personal vendetta. I didn't like them. End of story." Valentine walked around to stand beside his father, somehow completely spotless in comparison to the clusterfuck of bright red that dominated the nearby circle of light from the hanging light fixture. They were in a warehouse - on Yuuki's recommendation, since it was barely ever used for storage, but still had foot traffic passing through it - with all of the lights on.

"So why did you involve your family?"

"I can only eat so much..." Valentine replied sassily, but then sighed before continuing. "I wanted to leave a message in the mind of the smaller one, after all the shit he's done to me, I decided to do things how I saw them fit." Valentine smirked, not even tempted to turn around and see the extent of his actions on Dalton, who was only minorly harmed by Valentine during the slaughter of his father right in front of him... While Valentine himself pulled out all the stops and personally caused Dalton's mind to utterly snap. He was still handcuffed to his father's corpse, his body shaking and his eyes deadened as he just sat with his knees up to his chest and one arm around his shins. "So, I enlisted the assistance of my sisters initially, but word spread fast and everyone decided to join me. The only person that I didn't allow to witness this was done for a special reason, I'm sure you'll understand."

"I get what you're saying... But was it really necessary to break the kid like that? Even for your family, that's overkill." The Investigator sighed, even after their family became protected by their diplomatic immunity when Umbrella finally crumbled three years after the Raccoon City Incident - when he was assigned to their special task force - he'd seen them all grow, develop and even get personal with some of their kills, just like this. Even Serenity, the proud bearer of the Yandere title, made sure to denote the differences between a messy meal and a slaughter.

"I killed over 130,000 people to get to one man... This is nothing, Investigator." Tobias lit his cigar with his zippo, tucking it back into his suit jacket with a serious stare in his mismatched eyes. "In fact, overkill is subjective; To the person that did it, it was what needed to be done. To the viewer, it was over the top, too much, overkill, et cetera, et cetera."

"What do you think would've been overkill, in this situation, Tobias?" The Investigator asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Wasn't my feud." Tobias replied, exhaling his mouthful of smoke through his nose. "Are we done here, Valentine? You have school in the morning."

"Yeah, we're done. I've made my point." Valentine agreed, then followed his father back to his pickup truck outside. Once they were in the vehicle, Valentine smirked at the camera that Yuuki brought for them to record the whole thing, which they did, and it had been stashed in the truck before the CCG arrived. "Sheva's probably not going to want to watch this..."

"One way to find out, just be honest with her." Tobias replied with a smirk. "Or just show it to her... That'd work too."


	17. Chapter 17

"Finally finished... Damn this took forever." Valentine pulled his goggles back up onto his forehead, pushing his bangs back as he heaved a sigh. Beside him, Kuro and Shiro were collecting all of the relevant data for the manufacturing of the new ballistic masks that he'd just finished. "And I still have two more things in mind for these T-15's. At least the next one's small..."

"The emergency medical system, correct?" Kuro asked.

"No, that'll have to be scrapped. I have something else in mind. Much more useful." Valentine gave one final look over his finished segment, then slid over to his slowly evolving T-15 prototype. After a solid fifteen minutes of wirework and a few bolts, he finally had his ballistic mask system installed.

Aside from being general head protection, the new design had a built in radio system, cyberbrain uplink - for any cyborgs, of course - as well as thermal and night vision filters, an LED headlamp and even a mount on the forehead for additional optical equipment such as monoculars. In addition, aside from the radio speaker near the ear, it had the standard earpiece's thin boom microphone integrated into the jawline.

"Replay my father's report on the ballistic mask's firearms integrity." Valentine spoke aloud as he sat upright from his close up view of his work.

Shiro complied, filling the workshop with the recorded sound of Tobias' deep voice from her stored data, using her integrated speaker to play the file. "Preliminary testing of the prototype's Quinque Steel outer surface has proven consistent deflection of 7.62x51mm and all lesser rounds, strictly due to the overall shaping and surface angles. Recommending higher caliber tests on a fresh inneration of the mask. The lenses over the eyes, which are ballistic glass between two layers of transparent reinforced polymer, had successfully withheld direct impacts from up to .458 Socom rounds. Again, higher caliber tests recommended. Overall, from my personal experience in the field and on the topic of firearms, I would say that the current version of the ballistic mask design passed the preliminary durability tests. Production is approved, and further models are encouraged."

"End report." Shiro announced in her own voice, leaving Valentine to think in silence for several seconds before he spoke.

"Alright, Prep an exact copy of the mask's latest blueprint, archive it as a new project, indexed as 'Ballistic Mask Mk.2, T-15 Exosuit' in my usual directory. I plan to modify it soon, once I've gotten more data from the ballistic tests." Valentine pinched the bridge of his nose between his index and thumb for a moment, knowing that he still had to study for his upcoming exams on top of his T-15 Program, plus oversee the progress on the Nightfall and of course deal with any of their damn bumbling idiocy on top of that. "For now, let's head over to the meeting for the ship, It's about time for me to check in with the fools over there."

"I will inform Tobias immediately." Kuro nodded, already sending him the message with her cyberbrain as the left Valentine's workshop and went over to a different section of the R&D facility as a whole; Into the administrative wing, and swiftly into a boardroom, with Valentine taking the seat at the end of the table while Shiro set up the conference hologram system.

"Ah, Young Mr. Darkwood, you're early. I trust things are going well on your end?" One of the nearby projections, a man with a full beard, quickly noticed his arrival despite him not saying a word.

"I have plenty of things on my end, thank you." Valentine glanced at his current batch of headaches while a live holographic rendering of the Nightfall's slowly forming construction progress dominated the center of the long table. "Fill me in for this visit. Starting on my left, as always."

"Very well." The bearded man sat up slightly straighter and clasped his hands on the surface on the desk. "As of thirty minutes ago, the personnel you've assigned under my command have informed me that they are a day ahead of schedule concerning their progress on manufacturing your ship's personalized figurehead. They estimate it to be built by the end of the month, should they remain at their current pace."

"I want to see it personally, I'll provide you with an acceptable date for my visit at a later time. Next." Valentine briefly glanced at the bow of his ship, where he'd specially designed a figurehead to adorn the front, just ahead of the hangar. It was a secret even from his family, they would find out in due time, of course.

"Manufacturing of the hull is on schedule. Nothing new to report." The next man spoke his turn, then fell silent for the next man.

"Ordnance and weapons systems are still on the East Coast, I have received word this morning that all seven of the main cannon turrets are completed and awaiting transport across the country via freight train. All of the other weapons systems are still in progress, I shall update you accordingly when I receive anything new."

"Why are they not being transported by plane?" Valentine glanced up from his fingernails - which had a few spots of oil stuck to them - to stare at the man that just spoke.

"Your specifications for their size prevent air transportation. They're just too big." The man explained.

"Kuro, call Koko, tell her I wish to speak with her." Valentine didn't even take his gaze away from the man's hologram. "If she can't handle this transportation detail, then I understand why you cannot." He spoke darkly to them man, who nodded without a word.

* * *

"Oh, c'mon Valmet, just try it~!" Koko held out the large stein of German beer, her own resting beside her elbow. Valmet, of course, wasn't taking the offer.

"I'm not a fan of beer, Koko, I thought we've been over this?" Valmet couldn't help but sound a touch whiney.

"Just one swig, then I'll give it to Jonah. God, he can keep up with me now, I'm impressed." Koko smiled at her most loyal companion nearby, still in line with a few of her crew, all waiting for their turn for dinner at the large outdoor food market in the cool Germany evening.

"Just one?" Valmet was hesitating, nervously biting her lip as she glanced at the tall beer.

"Just one, I promise." Koko held up one hand solemnly.

"Okay, fine." Valmet finally admitted defeat and took an experimental sip of the beer, finding it surprisingly pleasant compared to her expectations. "It's... better than I thought it would be..."

"I know, right?! Germany definitely knows their stuff!" Koko set the agreed upon beverage aside for Jonah, just as Lehm came up to the table from behind Koko, chuckling in his usual fashion.

"Beer, guns, and medical research. I definitely agree with you there, Koko." Lehm had an unlit cigarette pinched between his lips as he spoke, jokingly tapping his chest after he'd put down his food.

"You did smoke for over half your life, Lehm. You should be thankful they were able to replace your lungs with prosthetic ones so quickly before the cancer spread." Valmet commented, since Lehm was actually more than half prosthetic now. His lungs were just the latest to be replaced. Of course, he also had a cyberbrain, just like Tojo and Wiley.

"I know, I know." Lehm shrugged half-heartedly before picking up his utensils to start eating - he still had the rest of his organs, and he _was_ thankful he didn't have to eat cyborg food - just as Jonah seemed to materialize out of the crowd like a ghost at Koko's side.

"Koko, is your phone on silent?" He asked as he sat beside her, glancing at the device poking out of her purse.

"I think so, why?" Koko glanced down at her side where the bag was hanging and realized it was flashing to inform her of an incoming call. "Koko speaking."

Jonah kept one eye on her reaction while he ate, unable to hear the person's voice like how he could whenever Tobias called.

"Hmmm... By air, is that correct?" Koko queried, then after the reply she continued. "And there's seven of them?"

Whatever those seven things are, Koko seems really unsure about them... Jonah noticed the brief flicker in Koko's ever present smiling mask.

"Well, to be completely honest, I could easily pull it off by sea. By air, the size of these cannons is simply beyond the dimensions of even the largest cargo plane that HCLI has to offer. I'm sure you understand." Koko explained, idly tapping the tip of her fork into her dinner with one hand. "Of course... Yes, yes, I shall. Spasibo. Do svidaniya, Valentine."

Lehm, Valmet and Jonah all suddenly stared at her intensely, shocked by the language and name change from the one person they combined the use with.

"Tobias' son. His name's Valentine, he wanted to hire me to transport seven naval cannon turrets to California for him by air. Problem is... They're a bit on the large end of the spectrum." Koko explained as she resumed eating. "The dimensions he gave me seem way bigger than the typical battleship's turrets... Like, two or three times in length, and at least one and a half the average width."

"You think his old man knows about this?" Lehm asked, a hint of concern in his tone.

"He admitted that it was an official BSAA program, so I assume so." Koko swallowed her food before speaking. "Besides, there's no way something _that_ big would be happening right under Tobias' nose."

* * *

"You got very lucky..." Valentine hung up the phone and stared at the now relieved man's hologram. "But, I have an idea. I'll speak to you directly about it once I've cleared things up. Have the cannons placed on standby until I say otherwise."

"Of course, sir. I shall do so after this meeting."

"Good. Next." Valentine turned to the next person, a woman this time.

"Until we start working with the crew you've assigned to build the hull, the superstructure's on standby, as you said last week, sir." She explained. "D'you mind if I ask who that Koko person is? I've never heard that name before."

"She's a friend of my father's... She's a ballistic arms dealer, the acting head of HCLI, the shipping and geo-logistics corporation. The fact that she couldn't pull it off is actually a huge surprise rather than a letdown. I'll admit... It may have been a bit ambitious to have been building the Nightfall's main cannons at our New York shipyard..."


	18. Chapter 18

Sheva was clenching both of her hands together nervously, the slight straining of her grips audible over the scratching of pencils and the disproportionately loud clock above the classroom door. The only two people that weren't focused sharper than a razor blade were Miss Haley - even though she was keeping an eye on the clock and supervising all of them - and Valentine, who looked almost... bored.

In fact, he'd not only finished his exam early, but he was currently dismantling his black and gold gun - Sheva forgot the name, but knew it started with a C - right on the surface of his desk, completely relaxed as he took out every single part, big and small. He'd even taken the bullets out of the magazine and neatly lined them up, facing upwards at the corner of his desk.

Sure, she was done too, but for some reason, seeing Valentine so utterly calm was making her doubly nervous. So she reread all her answers, trying to find a mistake, whilst ignoring the small tinks and clicks of Valentine's gun maintenance ahead of her.

"Time is up, pencils down... and Valentine... Gun away please. Pass your papers forward from the back and wait for the bell to signal the end." Miss Haley suddenly broke the tense silence, causing everyone to slump back and groan with relief before passing their pages forward. Valentine, of course, suddenly caused his whole gun to reassemble in midair with a flurry of clicks, clunks, and scraping of metal on metal, until with that oh-so-distinctive knife-sheathing sound, the magazine slid into the bottom of the grip and the now live firearm returned to gravity's embrace and lightly dropped into Valentine's awaiting hand before he slid it into the holster hidden on his lower back.

"Hey, Valentine, do you and your sisters have the same gun? I could've sworn I saw them both with that same one under their arms when you three arrived this morning." One of the guys across the class - who had finished early and had been enraptured by Valentine's fluid gun disassembly - asked across the room as Valentine accepted the growing pile of papers from Sheva and added his own to the group before passing it forward.

"Yes, we all have a matched set. It's a Colt M1911a1, chambered in .45 ACP. Our father custom built them for all three of us." Valentine replied with a glance in his direction.

"So why does it sound like a knife when you put the clip into the gun...?" The guy asked, but with that exact sound of metal against metal, Valentine ejected the magazine right across the room in a beautiful trajectory to land in the boy's lap, startling him by the sudden but not painful impact.

"Firstly, it's called a magazine, not a clip." Valentine withdrew his finger from the mag release as he spoke. "Second, there are springs inside of the grip, pointed downwards, that launch the magazine out of the gun, aiding in the reloading process. And since my family are stronger than normal humans, putting a new magazine back into the gun isn't a problem. Don't worry about tossing it back, I'll handle that."

With graceful ease, the magazine rose into the air, much like Telekinesis, and followed a rippling path through the air back into Valentine's hand, which was then followed up by reloading his gun just as the bell rang. With a flick of his sweater's hem, the gun vanished from sight and he and Sheva left the classroom with everyone else, as if nothing unusual had just happened.

* * *

"Oh c'mon, Yuuki, I know you. You're trying, but you're certainly not succeeding~!" Stella taunted Yuuki's slowly diminishing willpower concerning the idea of taking a break from her art project - Rachael was already finished hers - and having a not-subtly-suggested quickie. "And Rachael's the little free bird, already done her art project and left you all alone..." Stella teased Yuuki, who couldn't decide whether to scowl or smile at all the teasing.

"You are 22 years old, married to a beautiful woman who also happens to have a gorgeous futa body, and all that's on your mind right now is having a quickie with me? Do you ever think about anything besides sex?"

"Food... Your family's show... my martial arts..." Stella counted on her fingers as she listed the things off. "Hmmm, what else... The occasional tidbit of philosophy... but no, mostly just the sex."

"I'm technically not even legal for you to have sex with me anymore. Shit's different now that you're over 21 and I'm not even 18, not until November." Yuuki continued to apply paint to her piece, only briefly glancing over at Stella's chuckling over her recent birthday at the end of May.

"I married a lesbian cougar, that's kind of a moot point, Yuuki."

"Well, I got one that just might throw you off..." Yuuki smirked as she turned her head - to signify that she was now looking over at Stella's suddenly piqued curiosity - over before saying, point blank. "What're you gonna do when I say that I'm not horny right now?"

Stella didn't miss a beat, she just rose from her seat on the edge of Yuuki and Rachael's shared bed - they ditched the bunk beds last year after accidentally breaking them during a particularly energetic sex session - and gently embracing Yuuki from behind, her arms linked just under the swell of Yuuki's breasts with her elbows just above Yuuki's own, while her jaw rested against the side of Yuuki's face. "Well in that case, I'd better work my magic..." Stella chuckled darkly as she tightened her elbows, pinning Yuuki's arms to her sides.

"I'm stronger than you..." Yuuki warned the Japanese cyborg, who giggled at the challenge.

"And I hear from a certain towering behemoth that you've personally complimented my physique being better than most humans..."

Damn it... Yuuki thought to herself, recalling that conversation when they'd received their Colts, of which hers was currently laying on the free space just behind her computer's keyboard... presently unloaded. Not that she'd even dare to shoot Stella.

"Remind me again why you're even here?" Yuuki spoke up as Stella lightly planted her distinctive kisses along the side of Yuuki's neck, avoiding her sealed gills, as always.

"Motoko's downstairs running some system updates with Kuro and Shiro, she said she needed the extra proccessing power. I just tagged along because I knew you didn't leave for work until six thirty with Rachael."

"You are insatiable, y'know that?" Yuuki actually tried to pry Stella's arms apart, but even with her T-Virus strength, Stella's expert hold remained steadfast.

"I've been told that many times." Stella hummed in amusement as she suddenly took Yuuki by surprise and hefted her up from her stool and, while still pinning her arms, dragged her backwards until with a swift and precise sweep to the legs, sent them both onto the bed, with Stella cheekily laying on Yuuki's back while the younger of the two was face deep in the blanket. "Now, in case you haven't figured it out yet, we can do this the easy way... or the hard way. Either one works for me, y'know."

"Yrr gnn'n 'n muh nuhrz." Yuuki grumbled into the blankets, but her words came out as an unintelligible mess. So, Stella expertly flipped Yuuki onto her back whilst simultaneously straddling herself over top of Yuuki's legs.

"Didn't quite catch that." Stella commented with a teasing glint in her eyes, well aware that Yuuki was beginning to get mad at her.

"You're getting on my nerves, you little shit!" Yuuki's eyes turned over to her six Kakugan, and she finally gave in, grabbing Stella by the shoulders and flipping them in a reversal of their previous position; this time, Stella was on her arms and knees while Yuuki was flattening herself against Stella's augmented spine and shoulder blades, using one hand on the bed to support her weight, while the other boldly slid down the front of Stella's ever present short black booty shorts... Which in essence were nothing more than a glorified pair of panties, leaving a more than enticing amount of her godsend of a super perky bubble butt on proud display, just ripe to be squeezed... If the squeezer had the balls to do it, of course.

Yuuki did, of course. She'd done it many times before. So why should she stop a good thing?

* * *

Since his family was busy today, Valentine and Sheva rode the bus most of the way back to his place, so they could continue to study for their next two exams together, then walked the rest of the way until Valentine spotted the familiar Honda of the Kusanagi's parked in the driveway.

"Hmm... What is Motoko doing here?" Valentine commented to himself as they both exchanged a brief glance. "And I can only sense Yuuki inside the house, she's up in her room." Valentine shrugged before opening the front door and confirming that Motoko's shoes were indeed at the front door.

After removing their own shoes, Valentine and Sheva ascended the stairs to check in with his sister, pushing the door open... Only to come to a dead halt in their tracks.

Valentine knew right away that he hadn't been noticed, so with careful and calm movements, the two of them backed out of the room - He could tell at a glance what had transpired to lead up to Stella and Yuuki having sex - and returned downstairs since Yuuki was presently occupied.

"So if Stella's up there..." Valentine smirked as he finally figured it out. Motoko was downstairs with Kuro and Shiro. "Then Motoko's down here. C'mon." He briefly smirked as he opened the basement door and they both went down to see Kuro and Shiro were directly linked to Motoko's cyberbrain, all three sitting cross-legged on the floor in Valentine's workshop, which was the biggest area in the whole basement.

"I'm already aware." Motoko's voice spoke up sans facial movement as they approached. "Not only do I know those two very well... There's a vent right above my head."

"So what's up?" Valentine asked, briefly glancing at the vent, which was normally sealed down here unless he was welding or dealing with fumes.

"Just some mutual cyberbrain maintenance. We should be done in about fifteen minutes." Motoko explained. "How was your exam?"

"Difficult, but not enough to stress myself out." Valentine shrugged. "Sheva?"

"I thought it was pretty hard, actually." Sheva smiled sheepishly, slightly unaccustomed to seeing Motoko's completely stationary face while having a conversation with her.

"Well, as I'm sure you're already aware, only Yuuki's home. Tobias and Rize went to check into an author's booksigning. And I believe Rachael's down at Santa Monica Pier." Motoko sounded like she'd have been smiling as she said that.

"I'm surprised they don't have an exam today." Sheva commented, but Valentine shook his head.

"There is no exam for Vocal Music, that's their second period class. Their art pieces are due tomorrow, and I noticed Yuuki wasn't done hers upstairs. Looks like Stella wanted her to take a break, but she kept trying to resist."

"That's exactly it. Some very amusing commentary along the way, from both of them." Motoko agreed. "If you two need anything, I'll be upstairs shortly."

"Sure thing." Valentine and Sheva went back upstairs, depositing their bags on the counter to grab some sustenance. Sheva knew about Yuuki and Rachael having an additional Virus in them that allowed them to eat human foods, and of course, anyone - who was physically capable, of course - was freely permitted to eat what they had in the house. Valentine, who could not, immediately went for one of the numerous brown paper packages in the fridge while the coffee maker set to work making his cup.

"So, you have science third period, and mine's fourth. Should we work on studying for that?" Sheva asked as she took a bite of a chocolate chip cookie - which were Rachael's, judging by the large R written on the box in red Sharpie - while they extracted their notes from their bags.

"Sure thing, I'm just waiting on the coffee maker." Valentine covered his mouth with the back of his hand - he'd just taken a bite of flesh, causing his Kakugan to form - to hide his bloody teeth.

Once his coffee was finished, Valentine and Sheva set to work on preparing their notes. Only a few minutes after they'd started, Motoko, Kuro and Shiro entered the kitchen, with Motoko carrying her bag of cyberbrain equipment over one shoulder.

"Sometimes I don't actually like Stella's stamina..." Motoko jokingly commented, since the two upstairs were still not finished with their inappropriately named quickie. "But then again, I'm sure Yuuki's felt the same way at least once in a while."

"I HEARD THAT!" Yuuki's voice carried down the stairs suddenly, and after a brief moment, Yuuki suddenly vaulted over the upper railing and expertly landed in the center of the foyer, landing much like a ninja and making far less noise than expected. Surprisingly, she was dressed in her leather pants and her usual red-accented corset, but nothing else. "We've been laying on my bed for the past like, ten minutes, trying to resist passing out. You of all people should know that particular detail."

"True." Motoko chuckled for a moment, noticing that Stella had left at least half a dozen hickies on the right side of Yuuki's neck - and she knew from experience that they were one of only a small few inflictions that the family's T-Virus didn't immediately regenerate, and even when they did begin to heal, it wasn't accelerated either - which earned a wry smile. "Now, I do recall that you have work this evening..."

"If you're talking about Stella's hickies, I don't really care. I have two notorious appetites, one's food, the other's sex. I mean, c'mon, three of my five partners can regenerate, it's only fair that they get to leave a mark on me too."

"I hesitate to ask when you did to Stella..." Motoko looked slightly apprehensive at that last comment.

"I'm fine, she knows not to bite me." Stella descended the staircase and joined her wife, noticeably unsteady as she walked. "Besides, if you really want to know, I may or may not have pissed her off and she whipped out that damn purple strap-on. You can figure out the rest."

Motoko just sighed and shook her head, earning a slight laugh from Yuuki as she leaned over to whisper to the pair in Japanese, which neither Valentine nor Sheva could understand, both having been silently listening the whole time.

"I would gladly take that challenge... If you hadn't had a field day on my ass." Stella replied in English, earning a laugh from Yuuki. "I mean, I get it, it's fabulous, but you don't just ram it in like that! I'm walking funny, and I completely blame you for overreacting like that. I didn't exactly wake up this morning and plan for anal from a floppy purple dildo! Especially with _you_ on the other end!"

"Do you mind? We're trying to study here." Valentine spared them a brief glance, but Yuuki chuckled slightly.

"When I was your age, I broke the internet several times with porn, my relationship with Sherry and Jake, and a more than necessary amount of sex appeal. You can handle this just fine, Val." She smiled suddenly. "Besides, this ain't the only place you could be studying."

"No, Valentine's right, they were here first. And we gotta go anyway, someone over here needs a physical, limb maintenance and a ride home." Motoko indicated Stella, who was still a bit uncomfortably shifting her hips.

"I definitely had my workout for today, you can't argue that!" Stella held up her hands before kissing Yuuki goodbye, then followed Motoko to the front door, both leaving with smiles tugging on their faces.

After the door closed, Yuuki - who had briefly leaned on the side of the fridge - spoke up with a huge shit eating grin on her face.

"I appreciated how you two were trying to be quiet earlier, but as I'm sure you've just figured out from Stella, one's bare ass is a touch on the sensitive side." Yuuki stood upright and turned to leave before explaining with a smirk. "I felt the draft when you two opened my door. Have fun studying, you two."

She cheekily waved over her shoulder as she left, well aware that her brother's face had gone very adorably pink and Sheva's jaw dropped from shock.


	19. Chapter 19

Yuuki, like Valentine did during his English exam, was idly toying with one of her numerous weapons while she waited for the end of the exam to arrive. However, despite her Colt being under her left arm, she was toying with her butterfly knife. Ahead of her - since the seats were arranged alphabetically by their teacher - Rachael was resting her jaw in her raised hand, the other was idly tapping her index finger on the desktop, completely bored since she didn't have an extra knife to play with like Yuuki was doing. Hers, the big nine inch combat knife, was sheathed on her lower back, and her Colt was under her left arm, just like her twin. School may have agreed to let them have their guns on them, but they'd only done so if the gun was openly carried and sadly, they only had that privilege for their sidearms and their knives. Nothing else. Rachael idly mused what reactions she'd receive for bringing in Dakka, her RPD... Or for Yuuki bringing in her obnoxiously coloured M4a2, Calyptica... or even her infamous Mosin Nagant, Lucky Lady...

"Alright, time's up. Pass them forward, staring at the back. You can leave when the bell rings. Your final transcript will be mailed to your homes in the next week or two, once it's been completed with your exam marks." Their math teacher spoke up suddenly, startling Rachael out of her reverie. He then noticed Yuuki was twirling her knife between her fingers with practiced ease. "Yuuki, knife away please. Not everyone here can regenerate like yourself."

"Oh c'mon, you've seen me using it like this for over a month." Yuuki joked as she flipped her grip on the weapon around, then flicked her wrist to flip the hanging handle and the blade upwards to close the weapon, then slid the weapon back into it's usual place down her cleavage. "Besides, I'm not doing tricks with it."

"Regardless, Yuuki, safety is key." Their teacher affirmed a moment before the bell rang and everyone filed out.

* * *

"Now, some of us have been busting our asses with exams, so I think it's high time we fucking relax." Yuuki spoke up suddenly at the dinner table, with Jake, Sherry and Sheva also in attendance. "I would like some ideas, but I do have a suggestion of my own, if that's cool."

"And what would that be?" Tobias seemed oddly interested, so he affixed his dual blue gazes on his oldest daughter. "Not everyone's keen on the beach, y'know." He knew a basic version of Sheva's original injury, of course.

"The Canada Cabin." Yuuki replied, talking about the family cabin in Ontario, Canada that Tobias had inherited from Alice. The nickname was one that simply stuck from when Yuuki was a small child, when they'd regularly visit the cabin as a family vacation. "We haven't been there in years!"

Rize and Tobias shared a glance, both thinking the same thing. Then Tobias cleared his throat and spoke.

"We'll let your grades be the deciding factor. We'll also likely need to get permission from Sheva and Sherry's parents, if you two wish to join us, that is." He glanced at the two girls, who nodded. Then Jake laughed for a moment, drawing all of their gazes for a moment.

"What? I don't exactly need his permission." Jake laughed again upon catching sight of Sheva's confused stare. "My dad's... not exactly involved in my life anymore. He's at the bottom of the Pacific."

"I uh..." Sheva was even more confused, so Rachael leaned forward and simplified her concerns.

"Jake's dad is Albert Wesker. It's a long story."

* * *

The day that Valentine, Yuuki and Rachael's letters from school arrived, Jake, Sherry and Sheva were already there for the day, enjoying a six player game of Monopoly for the sister's current livestream. But, when they heard the knock at the door, Yuuki - who was admittedly winning - accidentally knocked the board flying in their mutual haste to leave the room with a hurried 'We'll be right back!' before they vanished from the camera's view.

"Valentine, Rachael and Yuuki Darkwood?" The courier held up the three envelopes, clueing in to which of the six were the siblings, no thanks to their signature sparkling silver hair. "Good luck, you three." He politely pinched the brim of his hat to them before heading back to his delivery van as the door closed.

"We should probably wait for your parents..." Sherry began, but Yuuki and Rachael - both thinking the same idea - were already halfway up the stairs to return to the ongoing livestream to showcase their results.

When they'd all gathered in the sister's room again, Yuuki was already slicing her letter open with one of her claws, while Rachael was halfway through talking to the chat.

"... Our marks, so Mom, Dad, if you're here, speak up before _someone_..." Rachael snatched the letter from Yuuki's hand suddenly. "Gets a bit ahead of herself."

"I'm in my office, one moment." Rize's message dinged in, quickly followed by the sound of her approaching footsteps in the hall.

"On my way." Tobias, who was downstairs, also sent his affirmation before his footfalls reached their ears and he joined his wife at the door. "So, like I said, your grades will determine whether or not we go to the Canada Cabin. Read them off for the whole stream to hear." Tobias smirked as the letters were divvied to their proper recipient of the three siblings.

"All but four of my marks are in the 80's. Three are in the low 90's, and I have a hundred in Vocal Music." Yuuki read over her final grades with a proud smile, not at all surprised by her singing grade.

"I have six in the 90's, singing's the same... and my lowest is 85." Rachael scanned her own list, earning a 'not bad' expression from her twin, which left Valentine silently staring at his own grades. "Yo, Val... What's wrong?"

"I obviously started later than everyone else, but I did the remedial catching up ahead of my exams, got my effective grades and all that for ninth grade... and none of my marks are below 95. I have two 100's and a 97." Valentine flipped the page around to show his semester's four classes to everyone else to prove he wasn't bluffing.

The stream's chat was exploding with praise, but went completely ignored since twenty pairs of eyes were locked onto Tobias' face as he stood there in a silently stoic pose with his arms crossed.

" _Ask your mother_." He smirked before spinning curtly on his heel and walking away from the sudden groans of annoyance and Yuuki's angry peel of Japanese cursing.

Rize laughed at Tobias' little trick, knowing that the stream's chat was losing their minds, but since she was the actual head of the household, she felt that their grades were excellent, and worth the trip up north.

"Sheva, dear, can you come with me so we can speak to your parents?" Rize beckoned for the girl to join her, earning exchanged glances from the other five teens behind her. "Sherry, you too."

And suddenly... the chat was completely silent.

* * *

"Passports please." The twang of the Canadian border officer felt a bit grating on Sheva's ears, mixed with the low buzz of other officers speaking to fellow travelers around them.

"Thank you." With practiced efficiency, the female officer input their information into the system. "How long will you be staying in Canada, and is it for business or pleasure?"

"Pleasure, one week." Tobias replied, since he was in the lead.

"How many individuals are in your group?" The officer leaned to the side to see Rize, Jake, Sherry, Sheva, Valentine, Rachael and Yuuki behind his towering presence.

"Eight."

"Have you declared all items on the forms?"

"Yes."

"You've declared multiple firearms, I require licences and permits, and all ammunition must be declared."

"The third form, ma'am. All relevant information is there." Tobias knew this would happen, so the official BSAA document commissioned by the US government declared that himself and his family were permitted to bring firearms across international borders at any time. Also of note was that ammunition needn't be declared by a direct count.

"I see." The officer read over the form, then sighed. "And the persons detailed in this form exceed your group's numbers. I'll need names, since the individual names are listed with specific firearms."

"I am Tobias. I have declared only three firearms from my roster; the H&K VP9's and the H&K USP.45. Though listed on the form, I did not bring the suppressors for any of them." Tobias beckoned his family over. "My three children, Yuuki, Rachael and Valentine all share a matching set of three Colt M1911a1 pistols, and my oldest here, Yuuki, has her Model 91/30 Mosin Nagant. And lastly, my wife, Rize, has only the one firearm, the Beretta M93 Raffica."

"Alright, and pardon me for asking, but are the weapons currently loaded?"

"No, I personally made sure of that before we left." Tobias shook his head. "Are there any further issues to address, Officer?"

"One last thing... I've just gotta verify which vehicle that the firearms are stored in." The officer shuffled the stack of forms and handed them back before typing at the computer again. "The black pickup truck, and they are declared to be stored inside individual carrying cases in the back seat? Is that correct?"

"That is correct. The ammunition is inside a locked storage container in the bed of the truck."

"Thank you, and enjoy your visit to Canada, Mr. Darkwood." The officer finished typing and printed the document, which was added to the pile in Tobias' hand. "Take that form back to the officer at your inspection bay, they'll direct you onwards into Ontario."

"Thank you for your assistance, ma'am. Have a good day." They all filed back out, where Yuuki and Rachael's bikes sat beside their father's pickup where three officers stood waiting for the page in Tobias' hand.

"Sir." The nearest officer held out his hand for the form, then read it over and nodded once before giving them the directions out of the inspection bay and onwards into outgoing traffic. "Take care, ladies and gentlemen."

With that, Yuuki and Rachael swung their legs over their bikes, Jake joining behind Yuuki and Sherry behind Rachael, while Tobias, Rize, Sheva and Valentine climbed back into the truck and went through the border and onwards for their cabin trip.

"Holy fuck they were so polite! What's it like in reverse, coming into the States?" Rachael's voice came through the intercom that the bike helmets had linked to Tobias' truck for the trip.

"Same process, but no where near as friendly in comparison." Tobias replied with a smirk. "Especially at airports. Koko's told me a few stories, especially concerning Jonah and Valmet."

"Such as?" Rize raised an eyebrow, staring at her husband suspiciously.

"Valmet once picked a fight with a guy. Said she didn't like the way he was talking about Koko and Jonah at the time... Which leads to the recurring problem that Jonah had for several years." Tobias smirked wider. "Jonah used to have a bullet fragment in his right ass cheek, it always set off the metal detectors at security."

"Wait, I thought it was Lutz that had the problem with getting shot in the ass?" Yuuki commented, since she'd met the German sniper - during Koko's first R&R trip to LA after the Carrier Incident - during the recovery process after he'd been shot in the ass cheek.

"He does. Jonah's was just a fragment from a ricochet. He didn't like the idea of having surgery, something about being scared of needles or something like that. Lutz has been grazed eight times and at my last count, has had seventeen direct hits."

"Um... Who are you talking about again?" Sheva couldn't help but ask, so Rize turned to smile slightly at her.

"Koko is a friend of Toby's. She's a ballistic arms dealer, and she has a team of bodyguards that work for her at all times. Lutz is one of her two snipers, Valmet's the only female on the team and all that it entails, and Jonah... he's the youngest, a former child soldier that she hired... And he later became her... How do I put this...?" Rize paused for thought, but Yuuki suddenly piped up over the intercom.

"Koko's a cougar. Jonah's basically her boyfriend."


	20. Chapter 20

After bringing their bags and their respective guns into the cabin - and of course loading them - Tobias took a look in the cupboards to make sure there was at least coffee available. There was, but not a lot.

"Yuuki... I suggest you take Lady out for some hunting." Tobias spoke up as he closed the cupboard. "And Sherry, as things currently stand, shark bait may be in order for the three of us."

"Okay, I figured as much... But how the fuck did you find out our secret phrase for that?!" Sherry wasn't ashamed about her regeneration from the G-Virus, and was more than willing to let them feed from her flesh. She was more concerned with how the hell Tobias knew the phrase that she and Yuuki - and Rachael, thanks to her genetic memories from Yuuki's DNA - kept a huge secret.

"Yuuki told me about it when you two first came up with it, years ago. We've just stayed out of making that particular request because, and even now, it's a highly personal matter." Rize explained gently. "If you don't want us to, then by all means, we don't have to."

"No, no, it's cool, I just never realized that she told you." Sherry waved her hand dismissively. "In the meantime, you have five people to feed, hurry the fuck up!" Sherry suddenly turned towards Yuuki, who had been loading a stripper clip for Lucky Lady as they'd spoken.

"There's fishing rods in the front closet, now's a perfect time to go fishing. I don't even know what's around here or in season right now!"

"Bear and moose." Tobias already knew that answer. "Rachael, think you can go for a dip and catch some fish faster than Yuuki gets a beast?"

"I'll take that bet." Rachael grinned, shrugging off her biker jacket and tossing it aside. "What's at stake?"

"Your _dinner_."

* * *

Turns out that Rachael was the faster one, but only by about thirty seconds. Yuuki had her kill, a bear, lugged over her Kakuja's thorax as she returned, cradling Lucky Lady in her arms as Rachael was just laying out her half dozen catches on a plate beside the brightly lit campfire, courtesy of their mother's Pyrokinesis. Valentine had taken his Colt apart, all the pieces were floating around his head as he cleaned the gun vigorously with a rag.

"Ah fuck, and I thought I had you too." Yuuki deposited the bear corpse on the ground with a relieved sigh and a thud of the heavy corpse, then disintegrated her spider body from beneath herself as she sat a few feet away from the fire to prevent herself from becoming dehydrated - which Rachael quickly joined, for the same reason - and put Lucky Lady across her legs.

"There's a bunch of nests for at least eight or nine species around the dock, y'know. As soon as I jumped in, I startled them all, so I had to chase them. You just had to wait and shoot a big dumb bear."

"I highly suggest using my field knife to get the bear's meat so your mother can incinerate it as soon as possible." Tobias commented with a glance at his daughters. "You still remember where it is Yuuki?"

"In the front hall cabinet, right?" Yuuki asked, and he nodded. "Alright, I'll get started on the bear. You grill the fish, Ray." Yuuki nudged her twin with Lucky Lady's stock as she rose to her feet to store the rifle inside and grab the blade.

With obvious ease, the two of them did their tasks without issue; Rachael - having the genetic memories from Yuuki's cooking classes, plus her own actual cooking skills - quickly had the fish fileted and searing on the raised grill over the campfire, whilst Yuuki skinned and gutted the bear using Tobias' massive hunting knife - the blade was easily a foot in length and three times the weight of even Rachael's combat knife, which was nine inches in TOTAL length - then proceeded to cut portions of the remaining meat, which Jake helped her carry into the kitchen and wrap in plastic bags before putting them into the freezer. Once she was done with the skin, unusable organs and the skeleton, Rize's Pyrokinesis destroyed all traces of it, leaving only a small pile of ash that she quickly scooped up and - thanks to her heat immunity - dumped it right into the middle of the fire under the raised grill.

"You three hungry yet? I can chop of my arm with that monster knife if you want." Sherry spoke up as Rize casually dusted her hands off, while Rachael crouched beside her with a set of tongs to flip the fish filets - and then immediately retreat to hers and Yuuki's respectively large water bottles once she'd finished the task.

"How quickly will the new one grow back?" Sheva, unsurprisingly, was the one to ask.

"Oh yeah... You don't know." Sherry gently put her hand onto Sheva's flesh one and gently smiled. "My dad made a prototype variant of the T-Virus - the one that these guys all have - back when Umbrella was still around. But, he accidentally got exposed to it, and it gave him a few physical enhancements, which the main two are his super high IQ and his body's insane regeneration, just like these guys, but faster. I inherited the regen, the IQ and a rather surprising amount of physical strength. Now I'm not as strong as Toby or Rize, but I can hold Yuuki and Rachael back when they try and get into fights. My Virus is safe, and it's called the Genetic Virus... or the G-Virus." Sheva seemed to understand her explanation, so she went to answer her original question. "Now, as for how fast my arm will grow back, I think showing you would be better than explaining."

With that, Sherry took her hand back, removed her watch and handed it to Sheva before accepting Tobias' knife - which Tobias himself was offering to her with his Telekinesis - and holding up her arm away from the fire and swiftly chopped it off.

Sheva's eyes never left the stump, amazed to see the rapid regrowth of the limb, which was back to normal within ten seconds flat.

"You each want one?" Sherry flexed her fingers for Sheva with a slight smirk as Tobias passed the levitating limb to his wife.

"Your call." Tobias smirked, having long since been desensitized to all forms of regenerative capability.

So, with the same casualness as the first slice, Sherry chopped the same arm off, let the stump regrow, then did it once more before finally putting the bloodied knife down and took her watch back from Sheva's offering hand.

"Sheva dear, just a little tidbit; Her regeneration is faster than mine and my brother Kaneki's. Our Ghoul type, which is the offensive one, the Rinkaku, has faster regen than the other three types, plus the T-Virus on top of that, and we were both particularly famous for our even faster than usual regeneration speed before we got the Virus. If I did that, my arm would grow back in about thirty seconds, not ten, like she did."

"What type are you, Val?" Sheva asked Valentine, who was finished cleaning his gun - Sherry's severed arm was sitting on his lap, none of the three forearms were dripping blood thanks to the G-Virus - and was sliding the magazine back in as she asked her question.

"Koukaku and Bikaku. Koukaku is the defense type, like dad, and Bikaku is the balanced type, like my sisters and grandmother." Valentine replied as he holstered his gun on his lower back. "The last type is the Ukaku, they're the speed type. My aunt Mishka's an Ukaku. Serenity's like me, a multi-type, but she has all four."

"So Jake... I remember Yuuki mentioning in passing that you can regenerate too..." Sheva began, but the redhead chuckled slightly before explaining.

"My dad, Albert Wesker... he's a manufactured human with a really rare blood type. That blood type has a very rare trait in and of itself to enhance the natural healing factor of the body. He has it, and so do I. Problem is... It's slow. If I cut my arm, not off... just a cut... it'd heal in about a minute. If I even tried to cut my arm off, that shit'd take ages to regenerate. So, to put things into perspective; I regenerate faster than a normal human... but slower than a normal Ghoul. Make sense?"

"I feel so out of place..." Sheva felt oddly uncomfortable suddenly. All of them could regenerate wounds, and here she was, sporting a cybernetic arm.

"You shouldn't. You had an accident, and you survived it. All of us... What was done to us was illegal from the start. In fact, when I was turned into a bioweapon, I was tranquilized beforehand so that I wouldn't fight back." Tobias leaned forward in his ice throne to smile at her. "In my opinion, you should be proud of what you've accomplished."

"Accomplished?" Sheva raised an eyebrow, unsure of what he meant.

"You survived a shark attack, that alone is an accomplishment. Believe me, I'm well aware of how they attack prey as big as you." Yuuki spoke up as she took over checking on the fish for Rachael - she'd lingered by the fire a bit longer than she should've, so she was chugging her water behind them - with a slight smile on her face. "Ask dad, he was there when I convinced a Great White to eat one of Wesker's thugs in exchange for getting Sherry back to the shore."

"It was messy. I'll leave it at that." Tobias knew better than to trigger any possible PTSD that Sheva may have concerning sharks. He still remembered how long it took him to get over his own for shotguns, all those years ago. Victory was named such for a reason, after all.

* * *

After the fish and arm dinner, everyone sort of split apart to relax for the evening; Tobias and Rize went to the nearby town for groceries, Jake and Sherry were still relaxing by the campfire, and the twins were cleaning up the various plates and utensils that had been used for dinner. That left Sheva and Valentine to themselves upstairs in the room they'd be sharing. Of course, they were unpacking their bags, but the short-lived task was replaced by an short, awkward silence as Valentine stored his gun in a safe, but accessible part of his duffle bag.

"You guys are so close, even though you all have these different types and powers..." Sheva spoke quietly, unsure of what was presently going through her mind.

"Well, yeah... We're a family." Valentine looked over to see her staring into her lap. "Are... you close with your family?"

"Well... Yes and no." Sheva admitted, looking up at him. "I mean, yeah, even after the shark attack, we didn't fight or blame anyone. But... My parents are... different than yours. And I mean that in the parenting context, not the Virus." Sheva reassured her train of thought. "They're open, and... and honest, and if something's bad, they say WHY it's bad, not just 'because it is' or 'I say so'. Like, you can all regenerate, so you don't really have to worry about hurting yourself. And they both let you do what you want, not assigning things or..."

"So your parents are strict." Valentine figured it out. Sure, he'd met her parents and introduced himself, but beyond that, Sheva didn't really talk about her family. He knew she was an only child, but that's it. "And the word you were looking for to describe my parents is 'Liberal'. By the undertone of your words, I can tell yours are 'Conservative', on top of being strict."

"Yeah, exactly!" Sheva nodded earnestly. "Everything at home is so rigid and structured, and all about precision and by-the-books... But when I'm with you and your family, it's like... like all I need to worry about is what I take from the fridge and cleaning up after myself when I make a mess."

From the way Sheva was talking with her hands, the chopping and abrupt gestures, he could tell it was a strain on her. She was like a caged bird, longing for freedom. He slowly sat down beside her on the bed, gently holding her organic hand in his own.

"I'm right here, you don't need to worry about your family right now. We're in a different country, far out of their influence. Nothing you say or do here will every come back to them. You're free to do what you want."

"Whatever I want?" Sheva repeated his last sentence, nervously staring into his beautiful blue eyes. "Like, I could shoot one of the guns you guys brought with you?"

"You have eight to choose from." Valentine nodded with a small smile.

"I could walk around in my bikini if I wanted to?" Sheva asked, and once again, Valentine nodded.

"I'm surprised my sisters haven't done that yet, to be honest."

"I..." Sheva began another suggestion, but completely stopped herself, looking away for a moment.

"What? Something embarrassing?" Valentine smiled as Sheva shook her head.

"You're absolutely sure my parents will never find out?" Sheva asked, and of course, with complete confidence, Valentine nodded in agreement.

"They're over three thousand miles away, Sheva, what's the matter?" He was starting to grow concerned, not realizing until it was too late when Sheva suddenly grabbed both sides of his head and pulled him into a fiery kiss.

Sheva knew the risks, and she knew the possible consequences too, but she had her golden opportunity and she wasn't going to let it slip between her fingers. She wanted to further their relationship, and without her parents breathing down her neck, not-so-subtly leaving BSAA related news articles or T-Virus Google printouts out for her to find, making jabs at Valentine's appearance and style of dress, talking behind her back about having a relationship so young... She'd had enough. She was in Canada, with Valentine, for a whole week. Her parents had their input on the matter, but now it was her call. Her body. She wasn't going to give them the satisfaction of their misplaced immaturity.

"You do realize I'm wearing metal armour, right?" Valentine pressed his forehead against hers to pull her mouth away from his to speak. "And, to be honest, I'm not like my sisters at all..."

"I know that." Sheva peered over her glasses, deep into his eyes. "And I'm okay with that, you're not the only one. My mom thinks of herself as a nun, and my dad's the most polar opposite to yours, ever. I mean, if you don't want to... I can wait."

Valentine took a small, steadying breath before he shook his head. With parents like hers, she'd understand all the risks and obviously been dealt the 'no sex until marriage' religious line for years. He was glad she was taking steps towards her own freedom, albeit in an unexpected fashion, of course.

"I'm okay with this." He spoke quietly as Sheva let go of his head and hesitantly reached for the hem of his sweater. This was something she'd done before, but now, under more intimate context, the thought of him baring himself like that was making her pleasantly nervous, now that she was seeing him in an entirely new light.

With slow, careful movements, she pulled his signature white sweater over his head and tossed it aside, and only after a momentary nod, Valentine removed the sleeveless shirt that he wore underneath, revealing the armoured corset that laid beneath, including his three telescopic staves on the chestplate.

"How do you... take this off?" Sheva only saw metal plates, not a single clasp or means of opening the metal.

"There's a zipper on the back, like the one on my sister's corsets." Valentine easily reached behind his back and hummed the zipper down, which connected the two ends of the inner fabric layer against his flesh. Once it was freed, the whole corset seemed to slightly relax, and after a nod from Valentine, Sheva slowly pulled it off of him, now face to face with Valentine's bare chest for the first time.

Up close like this, even armed with her knowledge of his gender, she still thought he looked like a girl. Completely flat chested, for sure, but a girl regardless.

"I... I know you're a boy and all, but it feels so strange, seeing you like this... You still look like a girl, even without a shirt on." Sheva bit her lip slightly, admittedly aroused by the noticeable amount of muscle tone that Valentine did have.

"Gender fluid, remember?" Valentine teased her slightly as he slowly did the same for her tank top, and cute little blue bra, baring her perky but modest chest like his own.

"I love you, Val..." Sheva didn't pounce on him this time, instead she gave him a gentle, chaste kiss on the lips, taking one of his heavily ring and bracelet adorned hands by the wrist and placing it on her bare hip while her other reached under Valentine's other arm and caressed his upper back, right at the top of his largest tattoo, a White Bengal Tiger that had one paw reaching over his back to the side of his neck towards his Lotus tattoo, and the other went around his ribs to protectively embrace around his side, while the rear legs and tail sank below his beltline and down the side of his leg.

"I love you too, Sheva." Valentine was rightfully nervous, and didn't doubt for a second that she wasn't as well. This was their mutual first time, and he wasn't sure what do to. There was no instruction manual or step by step guide when it came to a relationship, let alone being intimate with a person. This wasn't his area of expertise, but fuck was he going to make sure not to screw up. He loved her, and even in his robotics and mechanics centered mind, he knew that a first sexual experience was precious. He wasn't wrong in taking his time to learn and guage the reactions for his actions.

' _For every Action, there is an equal and opposite Reaction_.' Valentine suddenly thought to himself. ' _Newton's Third Law. Huh, go figure._ '


	21. Chapter 21

"So I heard you were interested in shooting." Tobias smiled as Sheva and Valentine came downstairs the next morning, both of them barely awake until he spoke. Sheva's squinting eyes suddenly shot wide open before he elaborated. "Yuuki was walking by your room while you two were talking, she told me about you wanting to try out our guns last night."

"Oh, I do... But I'm not really sure about doing it right this second..." Sheva explained.

"We're here for a week, plenty of time. And, that's not counting back in LA when we get back. You can shoot with us any time." Tobias - who wasn't wearing his signature black suit, but instead a surprisingly casual set of jeans with a hoodie with the sleeves rolled up - was in the process of lighting a cigar as he spoke, snapping his lighter close before continuing. "The Colt's all function the same way, my VP9's are 9mm, my other pistol, the USP, is the same bullet as the Colt's, but operates a little differently. Rize's Raffica shoots three bullets at a time, and of course, Yuuki's rifle a completely different experience. Any of them pique your interest, Sheva?"

"I um... I'd like to try a Colt... and Yuuki's rifle, if that's alright with her..."

"She's still asleep, but I don't think she'd have any issue with it." Tobias exhaled some smoke. "Valentine, you want to let her use yours?"

"Sure, I'll grab it." Valentine had already set the coffee machine - the same one as back home - to start, so he went back upstairs to grab his gun, returning a minute later with both of his sisters in tow, both in their light sleepwear with messy bedhead.

"Um... Yuuki, could I use your rifle later? Your dad said I could try shooting, and I thought I should ask you first."

"Y'wanna use Lucky Lady? Go right ahead." Yuuki nodded in agreement. "She's got four rounds in her right now, you want me to grab her for you?"

"I can wait..." Sheva didn't want to be a bother, but Yuuki waved her hand casually.

"Nah, it's cool. I'll grab her." Yuuki took an apple from the bag in the fridge and tore a chunk off as she went back upstairs, returning after a moment with Lucky Lady in hand while the apple was firmly clamped in her teeth. She handed it over with one hand, while the other pulled the apple free and she chewed the chunk that remained in her mouth. "See? No problem. Just throw her over your shoulder for now, she won't fire. The casing from the bear's still in the chamber."

Sheva took the rifle and hung it across her back for now, and of course, Valentine had his Colt shoved into the back of his waistband. She felt an oddly reassured feeling with the rifle on her back... She wasn't scared, for sure. In fact, she felt confident now.

* * *

Being left handed, Sheva had some initial difficulty with Lucky Lady's right handed bolt, but she eventually got the hang of it as she lined up the scope's crosshair with Tobias' floating ice target in the water and pulled the trigger.

Tilting the rifle onto it's left side and reaching over it to operate the smooth bolt, Sheva was surprised by how easily shooting came to her. Up until today, she'd never held a gun before. Not even Valentine's Colt, which was sitting nearby with a few spare magazines at the ready for her use. And with Tobias' help - she noticed that he was ambidextrous - she was getting better and better with each shot.

"Yuuki and I worked together to customize Lucky Lady for her. But, as you've proven, she's a beautiful rifle. Now, unfortunately, the Colt's are also designed for the right hand, so if you'd like to use one of mine, which are ambidextrous, just ask."

"Could I try... the USP?" Sheva took a second to recall the gun's name, then realized that Tobias had it on him, since he was holding it out to her by the barrel. Right away she noticed the word scratched into the side of the gun in feminine handwriting. "Silence? What's that for?"

"This gun used to belong to Alice, but she gave it to me before I lead a group to take down Umbrella. I never did ask why she carved the word into the gun, but that's the name I gave to it for her." Tobias explained as he traded Lucky Lady for Silence with Sheva. "So, this part on the side is the safety, click it down disable it." He pointed at the gun once she decided which hand - her left - to use the gun in.

"How do I hold it?" Sheva didn't put her metal hand onto the gun yet, awaiting her instruction from Tobias.

Here, I'll use some ice to show you." Tobias shouldered Lucky Lady and made an exact copy of Silence out of ice, and crouched onto one knee to show her the proper grip. "One hand on the grip, the other around the front of your other hand, just like that, good. Now, tighten both of your wrists, and try to relax your elbows, that'll help lessen the recoil. Perfect, now, just like with Lady, only use the three muscles I showed you to squeeze the trigger. I'll move the target closer for you so you can line up the sights."

With Sheva's grip and stance correct, the distant ice target vanished, only to be replaced by a new one about twenty feet away from them.

"This gun holds 13 bullets. Whenever you're ready, go ahead." Tobias withdrew two spare magazines from his hoodie's pocket and let them hang in the air with his Telekinesis as Sheva fired the first round, then another, and eventually finished the first magazine after pressing the magazine release below the trigger, catching it with her other hand to reload, just like how she remembered Valentine doing it with his Colt.

"I really like this gun." Sheva commented as she fired.

"Heckler and Koch make great products, in fact, they're the official supplier of the BSAA. I've never had an H&K weapon malfunction on me. _Ever_." Tobias smiled, amazed at how naturally that shooting came to her, just like it did for himself all those years ago.

"How many Heckler and Koch guns do you have back at home?" Sheva asked, since she knew about the big gun safe in the master bedroom - and the twin's one beside their long computer desk - but she'd never actually been one to recognize different models until now.

"I have four personal ones." Tobias replied. "But for work, I switch between four different ones, plus I also carry a standard issued version of Silence at all times. The ones I switch between are the G36, the UMP45, the MG4, and the PSG-1."

"Where is Heckler & Koch from?" Sheva finished the second magazine and reloaded the last one, the two empty ones remained floating in the air as she clicked the safety back on and held Silence out for him by the barrel, just how he did for her.

"Germany." Tobias replied as he accepted the thoughtful gesture of reloading the gun for him, not to mention her picking up on the respectful way to hand someone a weapon - gun or blade - by presenting the grip to them with the business end directed at yourself. "What? Were you expecting me to say they were Russian?"

* * *

A couple days later, after another shooting session together, everyone was relaxing by the fire with a drink and something to eat, their general air was light hearted and relaxed, making jokes and enjoying their vacation. But, just as Tobias was about to light a cigar, he suddenly paused in the familiar action, and everyone's eyes had been in his general direction, so they all felt his sudden shift.

"Someone's driving here." Tobias' gaze immediately went towards the long gravel road, just barely visible through the trees. "Two vehicles..."

"Everyone else couldn't make it, so it can't be them arriving late..." Rize glanced at her wary husband before pursing her lips. "Any other sounds?"

"Sounds like SUV's... Might be someone that took a wrong turn. I'll wait until you guys can hear them before I make a move." Tobias lowered his lighter and slid it into his hoodie's pocket, but didn't remove his cigar from his mouth.

"I can hear them now." Jake, Sheva and Sherry all detected the sound of the approaching vehicles at the same time, so Tobias slowly stood up and started walking across the grass, passing around the side of the cabin just as the two SUV's came into view, making him briefly narrow his eyes.

"Excuse me, sir, we've received a call for gunfire coming from this area." The first officer, with the Ontario Provincal Police, stepped out of the driver seat, followed by his partner and the second pair.

"That was indeed us." Tobias knew better than to get cocky like they did with the LAPD, so he stayed calm and polite. "We were doing some target shooting, sir."

"I'm gonna need to see your gun license and permits, please." The officer continued.

"Of course, they're in my truck." Tobias pointed at his nearby vehicle. "Shall I get my keys? They're inside at the moment."

"Of course." The officer nodded, and so Tobias opened the front door of the cabin, plucked his keys from the hook beside the door, and returned to them, opening the driver door and leaning in to retrieve the paperwork, until one of the officers suddenly spoke up.

"Sir, you are carrying an illegal firearm on your hip, I'm going to have to ask you to keep your hands in the open while my partner disarms you."

"I have paperwork for that, officer." Tobias slowly held up the sheaf of documents in one hand, the other doing the same with his keys.

"Turn around slowly, keep your hands as they are." The officer was still speaking with authority, and of course, Tobias followed the orders, remaining nonresistant as the second officer approached him and removed Silence from his hip, since when he'd leaned into his truck, his hoodie rode up just enough to reveal the gun. "Hand over the documents."

Tobias complied, and the partner stepped back to show the paperwork to the one that was issuing the orders. They read it over for a few minutes, then looked up at Tobias, still suspicious.

"I'm going to need to see your ID."

"My wallet is in my back pocket, right side." Tobias held up his free right hand, making it clear that he was going to use that hand to retrieve his ID. So, with calm and careful slowness, he retrieved his wallet from his back pocket and held it out for the partner to take over to the officer.

"BSAA, huh? What's your rank and where are you stationed?" The officer glanced at the BSAA photo ID in the front of the wallet, then up to Tobias' face.

"Captain First Class. I'm stationed at the California base." Tobias explained.

"Alright, you can relax, Captain. Your stuff checks out, give his gun back." The officer in charge gestured for his partner to return Silence, and the documents, back to Tobias, who accepted them but didn't holster the gun. "We'll speak to the person that placed the call, try to smooth things over. In the meantime, those papers mentioned some of your guns have suppressors. Might want to use them next time you guys do some target practice."

"Of course, Officer." Tobias nodded. "And if I may, I didn't bring them on this trip."

"Well, if that's the case, best to take a break for this trip. Don't want anymore unpleasantries. Enjoy your vacation, Captain." The officers all bade him goodbye and drove away, finally allowing Tobias to holster Silence and put the paperwork back into his truck before returning to his concerned family.

"Noise complaint for the gunfire. Things got a bit tense when they saw Silence on my hip. But, it's all resolved. Next time we come up here, we need to bring the suppressors if we want to do any shooting." Tobias explained as he - finally - lit his cigar and reformed his ice throne beside his wife.


	22. Chapter 22

"Thanks for the ride, Rize. I had a lot of fun at the cabin." Sheva stepped out of Rize's car and closed the door as she spoke.

"You take care, dear." Rize bade her goodbye and waited until she opened the front door of her house before driving back home.

Waiting for her in the front hall were her parents, staring at her intensely with their arms crossed.

"You're back, get yourself cleaned up for dinner." Her mother spoke sharply before turning to walk away, but Sheva spoke up.

"I already ate dinner."

"Oh? And _who_ was for dinner this evening?" Her mother spun back around on her heel to mock the Darkwood's.

"I bought a slice of pizza before Mrs. Darkwood drove me home." Sheva couldn't help but glare at her mother's comment. "What do you have against them?! They've done nothing to deserve such harsh treatment..."

"They're monsters, Sheva. They eat people like rabid dogs." Her father frowned as he spoke, but Sheva scowled lividly.

"No they don't."

"Yes, Sheva, they _do_." Her mother repeated, but Sheva quickly took them both by surprise with her next comment.

"Then how am I still alive after being with them for over ten days?" Sheva challenged, and once she had their surprised expressions, she pressed her advantage. "They're the most close-knit family I've ever seen, and they're open, and honest, and just so you know, there's a rule that all nine of them have; Never hurt people that don't deserve it. Mr. Darkwood told me how he was turned into a bioweapon, and I almost started to cry when he explained what they did to him before it happened. They cornered him in an elevator and shot him with a tranquilizer dart. Mrs. Darkwood was dragged into the lab by six soldiers, kicking and screaming until she was forced to breathe in nerve gas. So tell me again how they're monsters when they were once normal people? Even Valentine was born a human! He was turned into a bioweapon as a baby!"

"So he's not actually their son..." Her father suddenly found his voice, and Sheva got really mad, starting to raise her voice at her parents now.

"I know more than you're willing to even listen to! They deserve to be respected, just like any other person! If you can't understand that, then why do you keep bringing them up at every chance you get?!"

"That's none of your business, young lady!" Her mother snapped, but Sheva learned her lesson after the vacation up north.

" _BULLSHIT_!" Sheva shouted louder, uttering her first ever curse in front of her parents. "It _is_ my business, so answer the fucking question!"

"DON'T YOU DARE TAKE THAT SORT OF FOUL LANGUAGE IN THIS HOUSEHOLD!" Her mother let out an angry snarl, raising her hand to slap Sheva, but for the first time, Sheva didn't cower in fear...

No. She blocked the strike with her metal arm.

She fought back.

* * *

"So who struck first?" Yuuki tisked in annoyance as she dabbed an alcohol soaked cotton ball on Sheva's cut face, helped by Rachael, who was treated another one under her eye with a cotton swab. Across from her, Valentine was leaning on the wall with his arms crossed, visibly radiating an angry, rippling magnetic aura.

"My mom... But I blocked it with my metal arm and we started punching each other." Sheva spoke quietly, her lip swollen. "They kicked me out of the house and locked the door, so I came here."

"So, Sheva... Be honest with us; Before today, did you feel safe at home?" Rachael, always the more thoughtful twin, asked in a gentle voice as he leaned closer to check the large bruise on Sheva's cheek.

"No." Sheva minutely shook her head, noticing Valentine's mouth twitch into a scowl. He'd been silent ever since she arrived at the front door, still carrying her bag from the trip up to Canada and covered in cuts and bruises. "They've hated you guys ever since I introduced them to Val... And they've been taking that anger out on me the whole time."

"You want us to call the police? I won't lie when I say they trust our judgement." Rachael asked, and in that little moment, Valentine and Sheva locked gazes, for for a split second, which spurred Sheva to make her decision.

"No... They _deserve_ what's coming for them." Sheva's determined tone and nod finally broke Valentine's angry veil, turning it into a sinister smile.

"Well, in that case... I have some new toys I want to test out..." Valentine's aura vanished in an instant, and he stood upright and walked out of the bathroom - which was where they were helping Sheva get cleaned up - and breezed past his parents, both of whom shared a very worried glance at the unusually dark smile that was brightly lighting up his face.

"For once... I _don't_ want to know what he's planning." Tobias shook his head, not even he dared to go down that particular path.

* * *

Sheva's face was a total mask as she watched the paramedics bring her parents out of her house on a pair of stretchers, both still very much alive, but the absolute essence of traumatized, shaking and mumbling incoherently, held firm by the gurney's straps. Sitting sideways - rather cockily - on the railing of the front porch with his back against the support pillar was Valentine, only wearing his armoured corset, an openly carried shoulder holster with his Colt, and his usual white cargo pants, sturdy footwear, belt of pouches and ridiculous number of bracelets and rings.

"I think it's best that you _don't_ tell me what you did." Sheva spoke up as she joined her Yandere boyfriend on the porch. "Dalton was one thing... This was for me."

"Family rule; Don't hurt someone unless they deserve it." Valentine smiled very slightly, well aware of how pleased Sheva was with his handiwork, just from her tone. "Personal rule; Don't kill someone when a lifetime of trauma-induced insanity is the much more worthwhile and satisfying option."

* * *

"Welcome home, Sheva." Tobias personally held the door open for the two of them when they'd returned. "You did the right thing by coming to us. I speak from experience when I say the foster system sucks ass."

Sheva couldn't help but laugh, she felt so free now. She didn't have her parents breathing down her neck, she had Valentine at her side, living with the Darkwood's was probably a dream-come-true. And, on top of that... She was oddly aroused by the lengths that Valentine undertook to break her out of her metaphorical birdcage.

"We'll handle the paperwork and sorting out your parent's house for you. I know that look in your eyes, Sheva. Try not to break my son, okay?" Rize winked knowingly as they stood aside to let her - unashamed in her newfound boldness - practically drag Valentine downstairs with a triumphant gleam in her eyes.

Since it was plainly obvious what her intentions were, Sheva didn't feel the need to lock the basement door, nor Valentine's actual bedroom door as she shoved him onto his... no, _their_ bed and pounced on top of him, locking themselves together at the mouth in a passionate inferno of kissing and lip biting. She didn't care about the stings of pain, they felt like utter bliss right now.

With practiced ease, they removed, stripped, unzipped and unbuckled each other's outfits in a flurry of movements, until Sheva felt Valentine's proudly standing erection between their bodies, pressing against her stomach as she tossed her glasses onto her pile of clothes.

"Just this once... I'm not going to listen to your mother." Sheva gripped the base of his shaft with fiery, yet intimately soft eye contact from only a few inches apart. "You are _my_ Yandere, and I _am_ going to break you."

Valentine didn't have to say a word, his cocky smirk and glinting gaze said it all as she guided his length inside of herself with a sigh of utter tranquility.

It didn't take long for them to get a strong pace, Sheva languidly rolling her hips while pulling Valentine into her arms, lovingly kissing his neck, collarbone, lips and cheek. Even nibbling his earlobe and lower lip, cooing and sighing with each and every deepening thrust of his hard member inside of her. This feeling of freedom was empowering her to even further heights than their nightly sex during the trip to Canada. She felt the buzz of adrenaline coursing through her veins, the electrifying pulses and waves of pleasure rippling from her core, the scent and sound of their bodies together. She loved it all, spurring herself to go beyond her human limits, in control of this raw, primal strength as she suddenly pushed Valentine down onto his back with a coy smirk tugging at her lips.

Words were unnecessary right now. She was in control, smoothly lifting herself up his vertical length, stopping just before a full withdrawal, then, paused for just a moment to sensually place her organic hand on Valentine's tensed stomach, her fingers splayed out like a spider, while her metal arm languidly rose up and she rested her cheek against the cool surface of the metal bicep, letting her forearm fall to behind her head, where she then grasped the back of her hot, flushed neck and slammed herself straight down his entire length with a pent up moan of lust.

Keeping her arms in the enticing pose, she continued to mount him, her perky breasts bouncing and shaking with each descent, her likewise shapely ass cheeks rhythmically clapping skin-on-skin with each move, her voice rising in pitch and volume in a sexual symphony of moans, coo's and sigh's.

Her euphoria, so powerful in it's brilliance, eventually caught up with her body, and the ever rising ocean of pleasure was beginning to threaten spilling over, barely being held back by her lust-hazed vestiges of mental willpower. She wasn't going to stop yet. She WILL break him, she won't give up, not yet... Not yet... Not...

Sheva's symphony reached it's cresendo, the sound of her voice suddenly gave out as the flood of her lust finally broke her mind, her body spilling forth it's long awaited release, causing her eyes to roll backwards into her head and tightening her grip on not only the back of her neck, but also her inner muscles suddenly clamped down on Valentine's shaft, forcing his long awaited seed to fill her to the very core.

It took her several long, drawn out moments to come down from her orgasmic high, while her weakening body was slowly guided from her formerly upright position to laying on her side, facing Valentine, who gently stroked some of her hair out of her face.

"I can't tell whether you look better with... or without your glasses." He smiled, well aware that she was utterly spent, so he settle for simple teasing, which earned him a slight smile as her eyes closed.

"And I'm not sure if you're cuter as a boy or as a girl..."

" _Touche_." Valentine didn't have a snappy comeback for that one, so he too allowed himself to just fall asleep, right in her arms.


	23. Chapter 23

"As always, it's an absolute pleasure doing business with you, Miss Heckmatyar."

Koko shook the man's hand, pleased with the deal. Europe has always been her stomping grounds, and she made sure to keep it that way for nearly 30 years now. So today's deal, on an airfield in Eastern Europe, was just another day on the job.

"Oh no, the pleasure's all mine." Koko replied before turning the HCLI plane with Jonah right by her side, only for the pair to suddenly come to a halt, neither fully comprehending the sight before their eyes. "Uh..."

"My apologies for the sudden appearance like this, but I do believe I heard your surname was Heckmatyar? You must be Koko, am I correct?"

Even her army client was gawking at the spectacle, not even he'd noticed anything amiss beforehand, and he'd been facing the plane the whole time!

"That's correct. Now correct me if I'm wrong... but are you perhaps... Odin?"

"That I am." Odin, the massive silver haired wolf, nodded his head, still seated on the plane's ramp. "And seeing as you know my name, you must likely know the request I was about to make..."

"I'm dialing right now." Koko already had her phone out and called the one person in the world that needed to be informed of these circumstances.

* * *

Tobias was meticulously cleaning all of his guns on a table made of ice when his phone started ringing in his pocket, drawing the gazes of Rachael, Yuuki and Sheva, who were likewise cleaning the three Colts - Valentine was busy working late on the Nightfall in person - alongside him.

"Hello Koko, how may I help you?" Tobias put the phone on speaker as he continued to work on The Beast's cylinder with a wirebrush.

"Right number, wrong name." The last voice that Tobias ever expected to hear suddenly came through the line, and Tobias' face was one of utter shock.

"You son of a bitch..."

"That is technically true, yes." Odin chuckled. "Koko's already lined up an R&R trip to LA for this coming weekend, I'll be joining her, of course. It took far too damn long to recover from that avalanche, and even longer to reach you."

"I..." Tobias was speechless, and Odin could tell.

"Save it. I'm coming home, starik. Best be ready for it."

Koko's voice replaced Odin's. "Our flight departs at 9:30am your time on Friday. If all goes well, we should be at LAX by about 4pm, and on our way to your place by 4:30."

"Thank you, Koko... This... This means a lot." Tobias' hands were shaking as he hung up, unashamed as he just slowly put his gun down and started to cry.

Sheva knew better than to ask who Odin was, but somehow the sight of Tobias crying wasn't a sad one, it looked and sounded more like relief, like he'd been worried about Odin very deeply.

"Odin's... my wolf. T-Virus from my body was injected into him back in Raccoon City, gave him the ability to speak, made him bulletproof like me... he went MIA during a BSAA mission over in Eastern Europe about two and a half years ago. Caught in an avalanche..." Tobias explained he forced his tears to freeze on his face and just left them there for a moment to collect himself. "I don't know how he survived, but he did... And now he's coming back home."

Sheva nodded in understanding, smiling to herself. That was a deeply personal moment she was privy to witnessing. Deeper proof as to not just Tobias', but the entire family's humanity. Right now, Tobias must feel a great weight being lifted from his shoulders. She couldn't imagine what it was like for him to lose Odin in the first place...

* * *

As Koko lowered her phone, Odin bowed his head in thanks. "I deeply appreciate your assistance, Koko."

"I have no problems helping you out. Tobias is a close friend of mine, the least I could do was not fry his brain by just showing up unannounced with you by my side."

Odin smiled at that comment as they boarded the plane with the rest of Koko's staring crew. "And where's the fun in that? If I was in your shoes, I'd do just that for the unfiltered emotional reaction that he was holding back. I have no doubts that right now he's crying with relief."

"I'm not short circuiting in my cyberbrain, right? There's a big silver wolf talkin' to Koko right now, right?" Lehm asked Wiley with a concerned stare at Odin.

"I see it too, you're fine. Getting a real Tobias vibe off him, for sure." Wiley replied with a nod.

"Picked up on that too, did ya?" Lehm removed the magazine from his Magpul Masada, which was the same one that Koko issued to the unit the year before she'd had her first ever meeting with - at the time only 18 years old - Tobias in England for the strange XOS-3 Exosuit deal with Atlas, DARPA, and Umbrella... before Umbrella went tits up, of course.

* * *

By four thirty on Friday, everyone was assembled at the Darkwood residence; Alice, Serenity, Kaneki, Tabitha, Hinami, Motoko, Stella, Jake and Sherry joining with Rize, the twins, Valentine, Sheva and of course, Tobias as they waited with bated breath for the fateful reunion.

"If Odin has a mate and puppies... I want one." Serenity knew it was unlikely due to the T-Virus, but she couldn't help but imagine a small, fluffy and absolutely adorable version of the sassy silver wolfhound.

"I highly doubt that'll happen." Alice cracked a smile at the similar mental image she'd just had of an Odin puppy. "You do realize that Odin's personality is just like Toby's, right? He wouldn't have just mated with the first female wolf he found."

"But... But... _Odin puppies_..." Serenity pouted in defeat.

"Remind me again... How big is Odin?" Stella, who was barely over five foot six without using her four inch heelblades, had only been told that Odin was bigger than a normal wolf. Even Motoko, at five nine, would have to slightly look up for eye contact when Odin was at full height with his head up.

"Taller than you, for sure." Rize teased as she sipped some coffee. "Five feet tall just at his shoulder. If he has his head up properly, he's easily Yuuki and Rachael's height. Everyone except for Toby will have to look up at him."

"Even us?" Yuuki and Rachael both raised an eyebrow at the slight contradiction.

"I didn't say he's exactly your height, did I?" Rize smirked. "You two will still look up at him, even if it's just a little bit."

"Six foot three with his head and ears up, two hundred pounds." Tobias spoke up suddenly, having been quiet for a good twenty minutes. "Bulletproof, can regenerate, he can eat anything like a normal canine since he doesn't have my RC Cells, just my T-Cells, immune to cold like me, but does still have my old weakness to fire, sadly."

"So he's basically a dog the size of a horse that can talk, right?" Stella concluded.

"Pretty much, yeah."

"And I hear through the grapevine that a certain someone rode him like a horse when she was a little adorable loli..." Stella leaned over to tease Yuuki, who flipped her off as she drank some of her coffee.

"I'll have you know that every woman in this house was once a ' _little adorable loli_ ', even you, Miss Mato Kuroi!" Yuuki countered, but Stella slinked right up close to her and snaked an arm around her lower back.

"That's Mrs. Mato Kusanagi to you!"

"Alright, that's enough you two..." Motoko quickly intervened, forcing herself between the pair by boldly groping both of them on a boob. "Now's not the time to be fighting, especially with the camera crew here to record this whole thing."

She was right, since it wasn't Monday, the camera's for Darkwood were present, two active cameras - one in the living room, the other at the top of the stairs to view the entrance where a few of the assembled were gathered due to lack of seating - and the usual crew members were in the building, and the camera's were indeed recording as she said it.

"Hey, I'm curious, did Odin ever deal with my old man?" Jake asked Tobias, who shook his head.

"I wish. Would've enjoyed watching Wesker get mauled just a bit _too much_ , y'know." Tobias smirked at the comment, since yes, the sight would've been great to see, but of course, Wesker would've still survived it.

At that moment, before anyone else said anything, Tobias' phone rang and he saw that it was Koko's number. He put her on speaker.

"Hello, Koko."

"Hello, Tobias. Just calling to let you know we'll be arriving in fifteen minutes."

"See you then." Tobias replied, and then hung up, internally debating to have one of his cigars, but then remembered that Alice was sitting across from him and she didn't like that he smoked.

"I can see it in your eye, Toby..." Alice spoke up. "Just this once, alright?"

Tobias chuckled as he shook his head. "No... Not yet. I don't want to have a lit cigar around Odin. He's still got my old fire weakness."

"I want to make a hot dog joke, but that'd be a moot point now." Serenity quipped, earning a laugh from everyone. "And besides, mocking someone for something like a burn just isn't cool... _Fuck_." She facepalmed at her unintentional double jab at Tobias' old face burn and his Cryokinesis' weakness to heat.

"No, no, that was a pretty good one." Tobias chuckled again in amusement. "If anything, that was better than the hot dog joke idea."

Amidst all the chatting and mixed conversation, rather unsurprisingly, Valentine and Sheva were just sitting close together, slightly away from everyone else, but still within sight. Sheva had her organic hand against Valentine's stomach and her head on his shoulder while his arm was around her shoulder and his own head rested on top of hers. It was truly a cute sight that Sherry wasted no time in sneaking a picture of... from several angles.

Suddenly all nine of the T-Ghouls stopped talking and perked up with attentive focus. They'd all heard three vehicles stopping outside. One glance at the time revealed all they needed to know...

Heeled footsteps and heavier bootfalls approached, and a knock at the door sounded a moment later. Tobias was already reaching for the handle when he - and the rest of his family - sensed that oh-so-familiar T-Virus aura...

The next thing that happened went so fast that not even Tabitha, the fastest out of everyone there, or even Motoko or Stella with their cyberbrains saw it take place. All they saw was Tobias open the door and suddenly he was knocked back several feet, with Odin's violently wagging tail swinging back and forth behind himself as he hugged Tobias with his huge front paws, towering over everyone on his hind legs.

"Man's best friend, huh? More like words can't describe the connection those two share." Up above, the producer was jotting down notes, speaking out loud as she wrote.

"We both have some explaining to do, I see..." Odin held Tobias at arms length with his paws on Tobias' shoulders. "A lot of new faces with your damn hair, and more than one cyborg too..."

"And you have some war stories to share, smartass." Tobias had tears in his eyes, but nobody could tell what emotion they were from. "But first things first... Get off of me, for fuck sake!"

" _Fight me_." Odin challenged, and with a laugh, Tobias just hugged him around the neck with a smile on his face.

"You know I'd win."

* * *

With the addition of Odin's large stature and Koko's group of ten, everyone relocated to the backyard, casually sitting on the grass to listen in on how Odin survived the avalanche nearly 30 months earlier.

"So for about a week after being swept away by the snow, I was legitimately dead." Odin began, now laying down to speak to everyone as a group. "I don't know what kickstarted the T-Virus back up to revive me, but whatever it was, I'm grateful. Problem was... I wasn't regenerating for some reason. On top of that, though only a minor inconvenience at the time, I was buried in the snow. But, being ice-based, I took no issue with it."

"So what were your injuries like?" Tobias asked.

"Broke way too many bones to be able to move very much without making things worse for myself. One leg was fine, so I used that to dig myself out and drag myself across the snow. After that, I was stuck in a valley for months, mostly survived on the occasional curious creature and water from melted snow. By the time spring came, my regeneration was slowly beginning to kick back in. It was slow going for the first month, but I wasn't able to actually stand up again for a whole year. Winter had set in again by the time I was on my paws."

"No wonder we didn't find you during the S&R." Tobias nodded. "We searched for the initial week while you were dead, then I called it off and you were deemed 'Presumed KIA' and we continued the entire campaign."

"After I got myself in better shape by actively hunting for food, I decided to find a way back to the nearest city and find a way to get ahold of you. Problem was that the valley then received a sudden influx of snow from another avalanche, and I got delayed by two more months. The snow was all loose powder that was at least twenty feet deep, I couldn't walk on top of it, nor could I make it up the other cliff faces since they were coated in ice with some of that damn powdery snow on top of any footholds."

"Let me guess... Come spring that valley flooded?" Koko suddenly asked, and Odin nodded.

"Exactly." He replied. "But, I did make it out of the dangerous area and began my hike into Bulgaria, then across the border into the Balkans. That took up until a month ago." He turned to Koko. "I wasn't lucky for a while, but then I saw the HCLI logo on her plane and knew I had a chance with her, since you'd done business with her for the BSAA before. We spoke, had our phone call, and now here we are... Home."

"Fuckin' right." Tobias agreed, then turned to Koko. "I owe you another favour for this, Koko. You know how those go."

"Tobias... I'm gonna have to turn that one down. I was already on my way here, so consider it a freebie from HCLI to transport some precious lost and found back to where he belongs."

Tobias let out a short exhale through his nose. "I can't... You deserve something for this... I can't just let it slide like that."

"Tell you what..." Koko clambered to her feet. "How about me and the crew come visit you in the morning, you figure out what it is you want to offer, and we can all enjoy a relaxing day together. Deal?"

"Business as always, even on R&R..." Tobias laughed, but then nodded. " _Deal_."


	24. Chapter 24

As agreed, Koko are her crew arrived the next morning, all with a good night's rest in them, and were greeted at the door by a barely awake Sheva without her glasses on.

Koko knew already that Sheva couldn't see very well - and internally wondered why she didn't have her glasses on if that was the case - but with a few blinks and a slight 'Aaah' sound as she nodded, Sheva stood aside to let them walk in.

"Morning, Koko."

"Good morning to you too, Sheva. Are we too early?" Koko asked once they'd all come in and noticed that it was a lot more quiet without the full roster of people present.

"No, I was sleeping in." Sheva rubbed her eye for a moment. "Tobias is upstairs, and Rize's in her office, I think."

"Alright, I'll go have a look. Jonah, you coming?" Koko checked with the youngest of her crew and - stoic as always - he just simply nodded once, his boots already removed and neatly placed together.

"Um... Lehm?" Sheva knew from Tobias that the one in Koko's crew with the name smoked, so when the older man hummed in reply she continued. "You can smoke inside, since Alice isn't here today. Tobias said it was her rule."

Lehm nodded, but politely refused. "Thanks for the head's up, but I'm good for now."

With that, Sheva went back downstairs while Koko and Jonah went upstairs, passing Yuuki and Rachael's room just as the pair pulled the door open and took a step back to avoid a collision.

"Hey there. Dad's in our parent's room." Yuuki pointed down the hall, while Rachael smiled at Jonah, even though she knew the young man wouldn't give more than a glance, like a total Kuudere.

"Thank you, ladies." Koko gave a smiling wave as she and Jonah knocked on the slightly opened door, only for it to swing open by itself.

"Morning Koko." Tobias was just finishing up getting his all black suit in order, adjusting his small black skull cufflinks as she came through the door to see the familiar process.

"So, the crew's all here, as I'm sure you could hear." Koko smiled as Tobias collected his custom H&K USP.45 Match from the surface of his dresser and slid it into his belt holster. She knew - like most of his personal guns - that one had a name, but didn't know it directly.

"When's your flight back out?" Tobias was asking to confirm any details that may need to be changed.

"Tuesday at noon." Koko replied, noticing that Tobias was smirking. "I take it something's amusing by that?"

"No, but it gives me an idea for how we'll be enjoying our day." Tobias' smile was genuine, but his tone was oozing with humour as he asked. "Are you and the crew impartial to a day at the beach?"

Koko's face was pleasantly surprised by the idea, so she shared a questioning glance with Jonah, who nodded once. That of course, was all she needed. "We'll be happy to join you. Will I be correct in presuming the rest of your family will be joining us?" She of course meant Tabitha, Kaneki, Alice and Serenity.

"Absolutely. I'll call them while you brief the crew." Tobias nodded once and slid his phone out of his pocket as they returned to the foyer and stood at the top of the stairs, drawing her whole crew's gazes.

"Just like I told you at the hotel, we're spending today with the Darkwood's. Seeing as the studio's van is parked at the curb, that also means we'll likely be on tomorrow's episode of their show. If you hae a problem with that, you're more than welcome to head back to the hotel while the rest of us join the family for a day at the beach... More than likely of Yuuki and Rachael's choosing."

"Say what?" Yuuki pulled her nearby door back open at those words, having only been half listening to Koko's speech.

"I heard~!" Rachael's singsong voice carried out from inside the bedroom, followed by the sound of a keyboard clacking. "Give us ten minutes, we'll find the best one."

"Did you four catch that?" Tobias had been holding his phone with the conference call on speaker the entire time.

"On our way." Alice's very amused voice came through the line as three phones were promptly hung up through the device's speaker.

* * *

In under half an hour, the total of twenty one people and one giant talking wolf were situated at the semi-private stretch of beach that the twins had designated they go to. Though nestled in a small curved bay, there was the full public beach barely ten minutes away by foot, just around the short cliff that separated the two stretches of sand.

Odin, to everyone's amusement, had valiantly tried to argue - and then wrestle - his way out of wearing a collar, due to the city by-law. Legally, despite possessing the T-Virus and human-level intelligence, he was still considered a canine, so when he and Tobias fought over control of the heavy leather collar, everyone was roaring with laughter, since, as he'd proven, Tobias quickly won their grapple and man-handled the collar in place.

" _Undignified..._ " Odin muttered through the entrapping ring of ice around his jaw as they all got into their respective vehicles - with Odin in the back of Tobias' truck bed - and drove to the beach, following the twins' bikes ahead of them.

"Man, the girls sure know the best beaches." Lutz had one arm up behind his head, seated on a reclining beach chair beside Mao and Tojo, each with a soda - since the Darkwoods, except for the twins, couldn't drink booze - in hand as they all relaxed, opting to hold off from jumping in the water just yet.

"Beautiful indeed, but not secluded." Mao nodded in agreement.

"Hey now, you should be in the water, not sittin' on your asses up here." Lehm commented from nearby as he walked past them on his way towards where Ugo and Wiley were preparing the barbecue they'd brought for cooking lunch for those present that were human food compatible. "You better run before the wrong person catches you so far away from the water."

"And who would that wrong person be?" Lutz, with his omnipotently big mouth, asked in amusement.

" _Me._ "

With a sudden splash of water, Yuuki lowered the bucket she'd just carried all the way from the waterline, laughing with the guys that hadn't been drenched. Of course, her Scale Mail was active, but she was wearing her bright yellow bikini, which strongly stood out against the shimmering silvery scales and her glittering hair.

"Lehm was watching me walk up to you the whole time." Yuuki put her free hand on her hip with a smirk. "For a sniper, you sure aren't very observant."

"Oh c'mon!" Lutz, the brunt of even the crew's jokes, knew better than to get mad at her. She could easily end him. "I was just having a drink first!"

"Watch your words. I just might provide that very thing." Yuuki waved a finger warningly. "See all that beautiful blue behind me? That's my version of a nuclear reactor... You'd best be careful, since I also have a twin with the exact same powers as me." Yuuki winked as she jauntily spun around and skipped quite merrily back to the water.

"Me and my big mouth..." Lutz swore under his breath in German before getting out of the now dampened chair and tossed his sunglasses in the seat before he begrudgingly followed her.

Lehm just let out his usual sardonic, yet sarcastic chuckle before moving on his way.

Elsewhere, Jonah and Koko were just relaxing on their backs, floating about thirty feet out - the beach here had a shallow sloping shelf for about a hundred feet, then curved down until it reached a severe drop off at about the 175 foot distance.

"I remember the first time, all those years ago, when I did this with you in the Mediterranean Ocean." Koko smiled warmly at the memory of little Jonah back then. "Has it really been twenty years since I hired you?"

"Twenty one, actually. Anniversary of my first day was yesterday." Jonah replied, utterly relaxed. It was the moments like these, so calm and peaceful, that reminded him of much things had changed for him in all that time... And how fleeting they were.

Almost as that thought passed through his mind, Rachael's head broke the surface about ten feet away with her usual gasp for air as her gills sealed and she switched back to breathing with her lungs.

"Hey there." Koko, who was now treading water, greeted the silvery scaled teen, while Jonah slightly averted his gaze from mild annoyance at the interruption.

"Found something you might want." Rachael was smirking as she held up one hand above water, which was Jonah's folding knife that had been sheathed on his leg when they'd initially entered the water. "Almost hit me in the head when it sank to the bottom."

Rachael handed over the steel knife by the blade, unconcerned with getting hurt due to her immunity to the material. "Might want to get that sheath checked out, just in case."

"Just swimming under the water, Rachael?" Koko asked, and the teen nodded.

"Yuuki's messing with Lutz, I was just waiting for her to stop goofing around with Sere's dumb little pastic bucket so we can check out a sunken boat a couple hundred of yards out. Looks like it's recent, so there might be something interesting still aboard."

"How deep is it?" Jonah suddenly asked, earning an amused smile from Koko behind him.

"Two hundred feet. Maybe two fifty." Rachael replied, already spotting Yuuki diving into the water near the rest of the various groups. "Yuuki's coming, I'm out."

With that, she just sank below the water, and with a glance downward, both Jonah and Koko saw the two scaly teens shoot away like a pair of torpedoes, obviously headed for that discovered sunken boat.

"Damn, they're fast." Koko was impressed at the twins incredible agility in the water, as evident by their unresisted movements, like when Rachael held up Jonah's knife, or how quickly she dropped beneath the surface to join her older sister.

"Could they outrun a torpedo?" Jonah asked curiously as Koko slowly backstroked towards the shore without using her legs.

"Ask Yuuki about her swimming to the Der Reichstag, when they come back." Koko replied with a smile, remembering the GPS co-ordinates of Wesker's aircraft carrier from the Carrier Incident two years earlier. Yuuki had swam from Santa Monica Pier to the ship AND back in 57 minutes...

It had been over 700 nautical miles away at the time.

* * *

A few hours later, while everyone was still having a good time, the sound of vehicles approaching reached Tobias' ears, so he turned to where their own vehicles were parked and saw several LAPD officers with men in suits, almost all of them armed.

"Shut off the music, we've got a problem." Tobias reported R and Serenity, who quickly passed the message along as Tobias approached the lead officer to speak to him. "Good afternoon, officer. How may I help you?"

"I'm going to have to ask your group to step out of the water, please." The officer spoke loudly, bringing everyone's gaze to him as they dutifully stepped out of the water - even Yuuki and Rachael, still covered in Scale Mail - and stopped what they were doing.

"Is there a problem, officer?" Tobias asked, glancing around at the mutually confused expressions on everyone's faces. This beach wasn't privately owned, none of them were misbehaving, and for this number of officers and agents, it wasn't a good sign.

"Which of you is Miss Koko Heckmatyar?" The officer ignored Tobias and scanned the group through his sunglasses until Koko herself, still dripping wet, stepped forward and held up her hand.

"That would be me. May I ask what's going on?"

Suddenly two agents grabbed her by the wrists and tried to force her away from the group, much to Tobias' realization that this wasn't what the police actually did for any sort of arrest, let alone a federal operation. Better question; how did they find her here at the beach?

"Hey, what's going on here?!" Koko, who knew better than to resist, demanded loudly as she was lead away, until Tobias boldly stepped in front of them and spoke in a spine-chilling voice.

" _State your agency_."

"Stand aside, civilian, this doesn't concern you!" One of them ordered at the _much_ larger, tattooed man in black swim trunks.

"Does it really?" Tobias smirked as he gripped the man by the wrist and forced him to release Koko's arm. "Considering that in your approach, your group didn't declare your agency, give any orders to stop what we were doing, nor have you shown any paperwork or warrants for her arrest. I suggest cutting the act while you still have a chance."

"Wait, Tobias... What's..." Koko was still behind restrained by her other arm as the remaining agents readied their weapons and aimed them at Tobias' back, shouting at him to stand down.

" _Syndicate._ " Tobias' Kakugan formed as he spoke, right before his Kagune burst out of his back and he blocked the sudden hail of bullets aimed at Koko.

Just as quickly, his family were already in action, making quick work of the agents while leaving the LAPD officers unharmed. Koko's crew were all covered by Alice's Telekinetic wall until the last man gurgled out his last breath and dropped his pistol to the sand.

"Now then... Officer, seeing as I know you weren't originally involved, I'm going to have to ask that you explain what transpired into this facade even occuring." Tobias released Koko from his protective embrace as his Kagune disintegrated to dust behind him.

"They claimed to be CIA, said a terrorist named Koko Heckmatyar was in the city, said she had biological weapons. It all seemed legitimate, so we all went along with the arrest."

"Well, sadly, they're not CIA, and that would've been under BSAA jurisdiction had it even been remotely true. They're a secret organization called the Syndicate, they're working with an unknown leader that has some sort of vendetta against our family." Rize explained with her Rinkaku tentacles still swaying behind her back. "The reason we know this is because my husband was the Syndicate's original leader, and he disbanded them after Raccoon City."

"So what now?" The officer was rightfully confused. "I mean, if they're this secret organization, what do I tell the chief?!"

"I'll handle that." Tobias declared. "Everyone else, start checking the bodies, if they're still following my rules, they'll have a few particular things on them for this sort of stunt. Take, but otherwise ignore, any digital devices for now, I have an expert for that."

"Koko... Are you alright?" Jonah was already at her side as she rubbed her wrists with an annoyed scowl flashing over her face.

"This is definitely going to be a royal pain in the ass." Koko nodded at Jonah before approaching her crew and giving the order. "Help them out, if I'm on their hitlist, then we're not just going to lay down at take their crap!" She clapped her hands together once before adding. " _Hop to!_ "


	25. Chapter 25

"Well then..." Koko, now brought up to speed on the Syndicate, leaned back in the armchair she was seated on. They were all back at the Darkwood residence, dressed proper, but otherwise focused on the task at hand regarding the secret organization. The camera crews weren't present, having left by the time they'd all gone to the beach. "Sounds to me like you could use my help."

"They're not to be trifled with, Koko." Valmet reminded her aloud, but Koko knew what she was doing.

"So they're a big secret organization. Tobias knows their methods, seeing as how he was the one that taught them in the first place. And if I'm a target, I have you guys for the shootouts, remember?"

"You're right, and a word of warning; They're not just here in LA." Tobias nodded once. "From what we've already gathered, they're operating in several major countries. It's going to be a tough task of getting what we need to take them down."

"I'm aware, Tobias." Koko smirked at him. "But I've got friends with plenty of power. And I alone have access to Jormungand, remember?"

"You have a point." Tobias nodded. "In that case, welcome to the family. All of you." He smiled. "Seeing as they failed to attack you while vulnerable, they'll try to get you from behind next. Keep track of all documents, codes, the works. You shouldn't need a reminder about being discreet, but these bastards were taught by me; So I'll say it like this... These bastards are in the shadows of the ones pulling the strings from the shadows. Be careful, Koko."

"Control the ones controlling everything, huh?" Koko smirked, impressed by the descriptive analogy. "Excellently worded, and I will, believe me."

"One more thing; If you have a valuable contact, or someone that can be used against you as bait or ransom, make sure they're safe. We're basically dealing with the Baba Yega at this point."

"The _boogeyman_ , huh?" Lehm suddenly chuckled. "I once knew a guy that went by that name."

"I do too." Tobias nodded with a smirk, although nobody noticed his use of the present tense.

"Alright then, we'll get out of your hair, unless you need us for anything else." Koko stood up, Jonah already on his feet beside the chair the entire time.

"I'll call you if something comes up. For now, just hunker down and be careful." Tobias shook her hand as she called out her goodbye to everyone else scattered throughout the house.

With that, she and her crew were gone, and Tobias smirked suddenly, pulling out his phone to make a call. "Hello, Walter? My apologies for the untimely call...Oh, that's excellent. I was wondering if I could speak to Seras..."

* * *

"Good, things are coming along nicely." Valentine commented to Zyke, his assistant, after the report that he'd just recited from near the workshop's door. "And what about my project for the T-15?"

"It failed, sadly." Zyke reported from the document. "The Arm Launcher failed during the first firing attempt. Your father was the one testing it, so there are no proveable injuries to report."

"Alright, scrap the concept. My last one's almost ready for testing." Valentine wasn't pleased by the failed design, but he had run out of ideas for it, so it had been a Hail Mary test anyway. "Is Odin on the base?"

"No sir." Zyke shook his head.

"Then call my father in." Valentine ordered, and Zyke stepped out to go retrieve the man personally.

"Is it that sonar thing you were working on?" Sheva had been sitting on his wheeled stool the whole time - she'd been with him the entire day, curious about his job with the BSAA - so she was curious about why Tobias was needed as an alternative to Odin.

"Exactly." Valentine nodded as he installed the very device onto the master T-15 prototype he'd had for months now. This was the last upgrade before he did the final presentation for the current T-13's to be updated to the new T-15's. "And my dad's taller than us, so he'll wear it to test the sonar's system with the mask's targeting HUD."

"How tall _is_ your dad?" Sheva asked, since she and Valentine were both only 5'6", while everyone except for Sherry and Tabitha were taller. Sherry and Tabitha were both just a hair's breadth under 5"4".

"Six seven." Tobias came through the workshop's door as he spoke. "So what'd you need?"

"Put the T-15 on, I want to test the final upgrade I just installed." Valentine indicated the small touch screen panel on the left arm - he planned to make all suits have two - and explained what it was for. "That's a sonar system designed to detect the T-Virus within a 50 meter range. It connects to the mask's targeting HUD, which you've already tested out."

"So this is just a detection system? Nothing else?" Tobias asked as he donned and deployed the suit in the nearly second nature process. The mask connected over the top of his head with a series of sliding plates until the HUD engaged in his view and the sonar reported their two active T-Virus presences almost immediately. "System's online, it's highlighting your entire body with a blue outline."

"Good, it should be." Valentine checked the wrist panel for a moment and moved to his data tablet to record the successful test for himself. "It checks all biological matter within range, and once it has confirmed something has the T-Virus, it'll show that it's a carrier without further scanning."

"This reminds me of the spotting mechanic in that crime game your sisters love so much... Payday 2." Tobias was already familiar with the various upgrades to the T-15, so he disengaged the suit and put it back onto the workbench. "Except that the game's version only makes the target outlined for a few seconds each time they're tagged."

"That's where I got the idea." Valentine replied, finally pleased with the success. "And, once more samples are put into the detection system's database, it can detect more than just the T-Virus. I already have samples from Yuuki and Sherry, for the C and G Viruses, of course."

"Cross reference our compiled samples from all known biological weapons, get that intel into the detection system as soon as you can. Once that's done, we can start mass producing these finished suits to our soldiers."

"So how'd the test for the Arm Launcher go?" Sheva asked, since Tobias was spotless thanks to his regeneration.

"It blew up in my face, but I had Ice Skin, so nothing painful." Tobias replied. "Premature detonation when I loaded the grenade."

* * *

"It's so... Big."

Several days later, Sheva and Valentine were standing in the shipyard - currently they were in the ship's command deck - where the Nightfall was being built. All around them were crews working at a breakneck pace to build the massive battleship. Most of the ship was already complete, but as per Valentine's orders, two things were being left out of the ship for security reasons, one of which was the Magno-Core itself.

Valentine smiled at her comment as she gently traced her organic fingers along the main navigation assembly, where he himself would pilot from if he wasn't in the seat he was in right now, shamelessly admiring Sheva's ass.

"I actually wanted it to be about 50 meters longer than it is now, but it wasn't in the cards or the budget." Valentine replied. "What else do you think about it?"

"Will you always be the one piloting it?" Sheva asked, sounding expectant.

"I'm the only one that can." Valentine replied. "I really meant it when I said the ship can't get up into the air without me on board."

"So why did you make it like that?" Sheva suddenly turned around, her expression slightly dejected.

"So that the ship couldn't be stolen or sabotaged. It's a failsafe." Valentine replied, and that seemed to get Sheva out of her saddening thoughts.

"How did you do the failsafe?" Sheva asked as she straddled his legs right in the captain's chair. Her voice took on a special, husky quality as she spoke, the one that she knew Valentine really liked.

"Oh, a few tricks here and there. Little bit of magnetism. Y'know, the usual." Valentine teased her before kissing her cheek. "You do know the ship's still being worked on right? Even here in the command deck..."

"But it isn't right now." Sheva countered, likewise kissing him. The idea of having sex right in the captain's chair aboard his ship, with construction crews still working on it, and with the risk of getting caught, it was really arousing Sheva, and she wanted to act upon it before it drove her nuts on the way back home. "Oh, c'mon, it's your ship, let's give it a dirty little _secret_..."

* * *

"WHERE THE FUCK IS THE STUPID BOX?!" Yuuki shouted lividly as she ran from what could be accurately called 'too many' zombies as she played Call of Duty: Black Ops 3 alongside her sister and two Spiderlings in an endurance run of all the easter eggs of the game. They were currently stuck on the easter egg for Zetsubo No Shima, and Yuuki was the last one alive... without any ammo.

"It's over by the plane. You're going the right way!" Rachael encouraged as Yuuki ran past even more zombies, grabbed a very useful Gobblegum, and made it to the box, used the Gum, and got...

" _FUCK!_ " Yuuki got a terrible weapon, the Pharo, which was literally buyable from the wall only a few feet away for a cheaper price, but bullets were bullets at this point, so she spun around with the atrocious SMG already spitting lead at the zombies, making enough points to try again for a different gun, but she had to run after using the box, then come back and got her favourite assault rifle in the game, the Man-O-War and her face lit up with sadistic glee as she ditched the Pharo for a REAL gun. "FUCK YEAH!"

Within minutes, her team was alive again, and already grabbing Gum and guns for the spawning horde.

"So what's the next step we gotta do for the easter egg? Is it the plant that Yuuki was doing before we all died?" Rachael asked the team members, who had the age old walkthrough of the easter egg at hand, and they both affirmed their current progress.

"It should've grown by now, I did the last bucket on it." Yuuki reported over the heavy throb of her Man-O-War in her headset. "Whoever's got a gun, it's near the bunker entrance, go check. I'm still defending."

"On my way!" Their younger teammate ran off, since he already had what he needed. A few seconds later, he reported the plant was indeed fully grown. "Next step is... Shoot the plane down to drop the cog for the elevator... Plant should do it by itself when the plane flies overhead." He read from the walkthrough as they all got themselves back into fighting shape with Perks, the Shield, good guns, all the other fun stuff they needed for the final battle at the end of the easter egg.

"We'll just leave it to do that, I'm gonna try and get me back my baby." Rachael was still fighting with the RNG of the box, stubbornly trying to get her favourite gun in the entire game, the Gorgon, a big .50 calibre HMG that she absolutely fell in love with. "Fuckin' Box keeps giving me back the damn KT-4... Shit, this is the ELEVENTH time! GIVE ME BACK MY DAMN GUN YOU FUCKTARDED CRATE!"

The stream chat broke into laughter at her shouting, groaning as she got basically every single gun except for the Gorgon until she ran out of points, stuck with her own Man-O-War and the KT-4 as she ran away from the growing horde at the plane.

"I am not going into that boss fight without my gun, you can kiss my ass until I have it." Rachael grumbled, baring her fangs slightly as they all just worked together to get more points, waiting for their plant - which was basically an organic mortar - to shoot down the plane that passed overhead every single round.

Every time she had enough points, Rachael ran to the box and tried to get the Gorgon, but it took her fifteen attempts until she suddenly screamed in delight, snatching up her heavy machine gun, replacing the KT-4, and hauled some serious ass back to where she'd been getting points to get more to Pack-A-Punch the weapon into Athena's Spear.

"Someone's having fun..." Their other teammate, a quieter man a few years older than them, chuckled in amusement as he heard the heavy throb of the machine gun tearing through the hordes of zombies. "I see a Double Points... Got it!"

With that, Rachael soon had the necessary points to upgrade her weapon, and promptly did so, passing their plant mortar just as it fired at the passing plane and blew it out of the sky, dropping the vital last cog that they needed to repair the elevator that lead to the boss battle.

"Where does the cog land?" Yuuki asked, then quickly spun around to grab it from nearby. "Alright, get your drink on, get some balls in your mouth, fist your guns, and meet me at the elevator. And hurry... the fuck... up!" Yuuki gave the command to gather for the final fight. She had her Man-O-War Pack-A-Punched to become the Dread Armada, and she was carrying the upgraded KT-4 (Which she'd already had, but it ran out of ammo earlier) - the Masamune - which was essential for the whole easter egg.

"I'm ready!" Rachael returned, all Perked up, loaded for war with her Athena's Spear and her own Dread Armada, with the very valuable Phoenix Up Gobblegum at the ready, and shortly after, their teammates joined them in the elevator and they proceeded to the boss fight.

"Alright, now that I can spare a legitimate glance at the chat, we're gonna try and do this fight, then that'll be it for Zombies for tonight. Tomorrow's a morning stream, we have to work at noon." Yuuki gave the announcement as their characters conversed back and forth during the ride down. "But when we get home, we may or may not have a bit of a surprise planned for the artists and writers. No spoilers~!" Yuuki taunted them by blowing her face camera a coy kiss, just as the elevator arrived at their destination and they pushed forward. "It might involve a certain pair of cyborgs... or a pair of regenerating headaches. I can't say..." Yuuki teased before the cutscene started and she brought her full focus back to the game.


	26. Chapter 26

"Oh, my bad." A small kid that just collided with Valentine gave the half-assed apology as he ran past, only for Valentine's hand to snap out and grab him by the hair, causing the child to instinctively try and grab his hand, which also revealed that he'd tried to pickpocket Valentine's wallet during the collision.

"That's right, it _is_." Valentine took his wallet back and pushed the kid along his way. "Now fuck off."

Sheva clutched her purse - a gift from Rize, a nice and simple black purse - closer to her body after Valentine caught the kid's attempt to steal his wallet. She was impressed by his reaction speed, for sure.

Sliding his wallet back where it was, the two of them continued along their way through the crowds of the state gun show, both on the quest for new guns for themselves. Valentine had been saving his money for them both, since Sheva didn't have a summer job.

"So what guns did you have in mind?" Sheva asked over the din of the crowds of people and the distant gunfire from the shooting area over at the other end of the large field of tents and booths.

"I want some sort of rifle, maybe even a new sidearm." Valentine replied, then asked. "What about you?"

"I guess I should get a pistol..." Sheva admitted, then shrugged. "But I guess I'll see what catches my eye while we're here."

Valentine nodded in agreement, and they both continued to prowl the stalls and booths, checking out the entire long stretch of booths dedicated to just pistols of a large variety of calibers.

"How about this?" Sheva presented Valentine with a short barreled Taurus Judge, and he raised an eyebrow at the revolver for a moment, considering what he could possibly do to the weapon.

"Nah, that's not exactly something I had in mind." Valentine made a face after his evaluation failed. "Dad's the one that likes revolvers, not me."

"It's also a shotgun." Sheva indicated the tag on the gun's trigger guard, which declared the weapon was chambered in both .45 Longcolt and .410 shotgun shells. "Kinda cool, I guess." She returned it to the display rack and scanned the next one for a gun for either of them.

By the end of their visit to the gun show, neither could really find a suitable gun, so they joined Tobias in his truck and went home, slightly disappointed by the lack of success as they informed him of the turnout.

Neither noticed his smirk.

* * *

"Well shit." Tobias smirked at Valentine's current weapon project laying on his workbench amidst a plethora of scrap parts, spare components and scattered tools. "That's gonna be a fun little toy, for sure..."

He tucked the gun case he'd intended to gift his son - Sheva's was still being custom built at the moment - and returned to the main floor, coming face to face with Kuro and Shiro, who were regarding him curiously.

"Tobias, I presume that you were looking for Valentine? To gift him that gun under your arm?" Shiro asked, to which he gave a nod.

"I noticed his new toy he's building right now." Tobias replied. "If he can get it to work, I will be a very impressed man."

"How so?" Shiro asked curiously, but Tobias just smirked before replying.

"A magazine fed flintlock pistol... What will he come up with next?" Tobias joked as he shook his head in amusement before walking into the living room to retrieve his lit cigar in an ashtray on the coffee table, only slightly curious when he heard them join him. "I take it there's something else to discuss?"

"We were curious about the Syndicate, seeing as we are privy to the current circumstances regarding them. What made you create the original roster of the organization?" Kuro asked as he took a drag from his cigar and motioned for them to sit on the couch while he resumed his seat in the large armchair that everyone loved so much - It was actually Rize's chair, from when Yuuki was still a newborn.

"I knew that things were beginning to get out of my sole control at Umbrella, specifically regarding Wesker, so I opted to form a network of trusted individuals or those with power or influence..." Tobias blew out the smoke as he paused. "My intention was to create a sort of safety net if things went south between myself and the Corporation."

"Would you say they did?" Shiro asked.

"Against Wesker, yes. Against the Corporation itself? Not really." Tobias shook his head. "Of course, by the time I fell into Wesker's little trap with Alice and those MA-121's, the Syndicate was merely connected by contact information, with the express awareness that they were a contingency plan by default. After I returned to my right-hand partner, who was the brains behind the whole thing, Natasha, we sent out the first summons to bring the Syndicate together. After that, it was a war between myself and Wesker, and I happened to have a few more surprises up my sleeve than he did."

"Meaning what?" Shiro asked, tilting her head slightly to the side as she stared at him.

"Umbrella had significant political influence, secret military contracts, and a network of spies in the city, not to mention a vast and powerful propaganda campaign. What I had up my sleeve was our anonymous, faceless concept, the loyalty of my members, and personal knowledge of Umbrella's inner workings. One of my key members was the founder of Umbrella itself, Sir Oswald E. Spencer. With his influence in the Corporation we gained the upper hand well before we even prepared our first drills for the final assault on the Umbrella HQ."

"And the aftermath of the battle?" Kuro asked this time.

"After the nuke, with all traces of the outbreak only collected on social media as well as archived data gathered by the Syndicate through first hand capturing as well as Umbrella's data, the surviving members of the Syndicate - about four hundred and fifty in total - were gathered together in a meeting with myself and my fellow leaders of the Syndicate, and I told them things straight." Tobias took another drag of his cigar, then exhaled it through his nose before be began to recite the admittedly improvised speech he'd given to them.

"What happens now rests entirely on my shoulders, I must now do something drastic, and that is to disband the Syndicate henceforth. From here onwards, you aren't members of the Syndicate, it has served it's only purpose, and you that stand before me now bear the title of survivors. I dragged you all into my fight with Wesker, escalating into a full out war to the death. Your actions over the past 24 hours have proven your strength and tenacity. Now, it's my turn to prove to you that this wasn't a dead-ended journey; You trust me as a leader, and I trust you all as people, as individuals. My path is clear, and yours is a clean slate. I will forever bear the reminder of the deaths I've caused in my vengeance. The blood of 130,000 people stains my hands, and I intend to continue what I started, and bring Umbrella down. You are hereby discharged with full respects, from my Syndicate, and I wish you all safe and happy travels, until we meet again."

"After that, you helped form the BSAA, took the brunt of the blame for Raccoon City, and lived up to your words." Shiro nodded in understanding, knowing at least that much already. "So, that brings about another question; Who revived the Syndicate after all these years?"

"That's the problem; I don't know." Tobias had his cigar between his index and middle fingers, but began stroking his lip with his thumb as he spoke. "Even with all my knowledge on the new Syndicate's methodology matching the old, and the fact they're setting their sights onto our family, I don't know their true objectives, nor do I know why."

"So, any theories about the connection the new leader may have?" Kuro asked curiously.

"As of yet, all I know is it's personal, the person is patient, and they're intelligent and more than likely cunning. They're at least in their forties, since they'd have been at least my age at the time of Raccoon City, and lastly, the one fact I have nailed down is they're only one person, not a group or collective."

"No confirmation of appearance? Gender? Nationality? Absolutely nothing? Kuro asked, her expression becoming thoughtful.

"That's right." Tobias took another drag, then put the cigar out in the ashtray since it was finally finished. "Just like how I operated the Syndicate when I was at the helm."

* * *

 **A/N: Story's now up to date with the uploads. Next chapter is not finished yet, so once I get it up and running, uploads shall resume as normal.**


	27. Chapter 27

The powerful whine of the system coming online rose in volume until the sudden, but brief moment of highly pressurized silence as the sonic boom rended through the air with the Mach 8 speed of the projectile that the railgun just fired out to sea.

"Remind me again why we didn't think of these in the first place?" Valentine commented to the man he'd assigned to handle the Nightfall's weapons systems as the distant plume of water from the impact rose up just before the horizon line. "What amuses me the most about them is the fact that they're cheaper than the 315mm cannons we originally used."

"We were also able to transport them by air too." He added as his ears stopped ringing from the railgun's shockwave.

"I know." Valentine glanced at the man sternly. "Koko was the one that delivered them."

"So what are they firing?" The man asked, and Valentine shrugged.

"That was just a test fire round. The proper ammunition's going to be the 315mm rounds without their shell casings. Just the projectiles themselves."

"Shouldn't we make them smaller than that?" He asked curiously.

"Since your tasks are nearly complete, I'll let you handle the revamping of the 315mm rounds into a size more suited to the new railgun turrets. I expect an official report at the next meeting." Valentine turned to leave as he added. "Disassemble this turret and have it readied for installation aboard the Nightfall with the rest of the turrets."

"Yes, sir. I will alert the crews immediately."

* * *

"Alright, Mr. Darkwood, it's all finished. You want to do some test shots?" The gunsmith that Tobias hired for Valentine and Sheva's guns presented him with Sheva's new sidearm, an exact copy of the Colt's he gave Valentine and the twins, but Sheva's didn't have the spring loaded magwell. He knew it would be more of an inconvenience to her than a benefit.

"It's alright. I trust your workmanship." Tobias smiled, since this was the man that did a large portion of the work for Lucky Lady, Ping and Dakka. "And of course, your payment is in cash, as always." Tobias handed over the sheaf of bills he was holding.

"Take care." The man smiled and traded the gun for the money, and promptly put it into the register - he trusted Tobias, so he didn't feel the need to count the money. It was always there in full - as Tobias put the gun into the case and closed it before nodding goodbye and returning to his truck outside.

* * *

"Are you serious?!" Sheva was examining her gun, excited by the gift from Tobias, who was smiling at her.

"You are part of our family, after all." Tobias nodded. "A movie from back when I was your age said it best, 'I've got family that ain't blood... and blood that ain't family.' You are one of us now... Just not... y'know, a carnivore." Tobias' smile widened as she put the gun back into the carrying case and closed the lid. "Now, question..."

"He's working on some new toy, looks like a weird skateboard." Sheva smirked, somehow knowing that he was about to ask where Valentine was.

"A skateboard... Hmmm..." Tobias' eyes narrowed, but then he smirked in realization. "Of course he'd make one." He turned his gaze back to Sheva. "I think I know where he is, I'll be back. Call if anything happens."

* * *

Breezing his way through the pedestrian traffic, Valentine took the corner sharply, much to the annoyance of an old man that was startled by his sudden turn, shouting after the girl in white that shot past him and vanished into the crowds.

Valentine was best described as being reckless right now; sharp turns, coupled with his high speed, made for an amusing experience with his prototype hoverboard. It used a modified version of the Boost Pack's magnetic core from the T-15's to generate both the lift and the forward propulsion it needed. A few tweaks later and it was running like a charm. Fast, lightweight and durable, plus it was easy to control.

So, of course, his destination was the skate park, to really try and put the hoverboard through it's paces in a civilian environment. Should the need arise, a military one would be taken if the use of the board was the only option at the time.

Gliding around a corner, the last person he expected to see was his father levitating right at the side of the building, and even more so by him keeping pace with him, a huge smirk on his face.

"Skate park is closed right now, two cars crashed at the intersection, there's debris all over the place." Tobias reported as he fashioned his own flat board out of ice, imitating his son's movements as they glided two feet off the ground, weaving in and out of the trees and light posts on the street.

"Got any alternatives in mind? Preferably without any flying bullets?" Valentine asked as they were forced to come to a halt in mid-air at a traffic light, the vehicles already moving, thus preventing a bold fly-over.

"Honestly, you should give it a break for today, whatever testing you have in mind can wait a day. Your gun's finally done, I was looking for you to let you know to come home."

"My gun?" Valentine raised an eyebrow. He had his Colt on him right now, and his P90 was locked in his own gun safe in his and Sheva's room.

"I got you a new one." Tobias replied as the light changed, allowing them to glide forward with the foot traffic. "So you can come willingly, or I'll MAKE you come back home, Valentine." His normal eye - his right - hardened into a glare as he said his son's name, daring him to try anything.

"I have a perfect internal compass, y'know. I'm well aware you've turned us around to go back home." Valentine winked at his father's subtle trick, but there was no fooling a magnetic sense of direction like that.

* * *

Loud banging at the front door drew the attention of Kuro, Shiro, Sheva and the twins to the foyer. All of them knew, more or less, that Tobias went to retrieve Valentine, and Rize was meeting with her publishing company for the afternoon. So, as the acting oldest, Yuuki approached the door and pulled it open to reveal a man and a woman in sharp suits, both of whom had glasses.

"Yuuki Darkwood?" The woman asked right away, making Yuuki narrow all six of her eyes suspiciously.

"Yes." She replied, scanning them for weapon bulges, but found none.

"My name is Gizelle, this is Francois, we're with Teen Vogue, would you be interested in giving an interview with yor sister Rachael for next month's issue?"

"Under what context?" Yuuki's gun holster under her left arm was hidden by the door, and she had subtly unbuttoned the small strap that kept the gun in place with her hidden arm.

"We're conducting numerous interviews with teen celebrities across the country, we're just visiting today to confirm your interest. With parental permission, if relevant, of course." Francois explained in an obvious French accent. "Our cards, should you wish to contact us directly with your decision." He handed over a business card, which she accepted with a brief glance at the number on it.

"I'll call you when we make up our minds." Yuuki replied and they both nodded in understanding before turning to leave.

Yuuki watched them leave for several seconds until they were back in their car and drove away. She closed the door and looked up at her twin.

"Teen Vogue, huh? Compared to the Syndicate's bullshit, that sounded legitimate. Gimme the card, I'm gonna check to see if it's actually a real thing." Rachael accepted the card and went to their computers, the sound of her typing reached their ears until she came back a minute later with the card in hand. "It's legit, Gizelle's an interviewer, Francois' a photographer for the magazine."

"Guess we should tell Mom and Dad when they get back, huh?" Yuuki reclasped her gun's strap with a sigh as she accepted the card from Rachael. "Aside from Dad's stuff with H&K, and Mom's books, nobody's really asked us for interviews of any kind."

"Shall I send them a message?" Shiro asked, but Yuuki shook her head.

"Nah, this can wait until they get home. Not a big deal." Yuuki replied, tucking the card into her cleavage. "Anyway, I'm hungry, gonna order a pizza. Ray, Sheva, want something on it? I was just gonna get pepperoni and extra cheese."

"Pineapple?" Rachael didn't often ask for specific ingredients on their pizza, usually various meats or specific specialty pizza's, but the one thing that Yuuki didn't like on pizza... was that.

" _No_." Yuuki scowled. "Pineapple does _not_ belong on _my_ pizza. Buy your own if you want that shit!"

"I was kidding!" Rachael laughed. "Nah, I'm really in the mood for some garlic bread. Think you could add that?"

"Sure. Sheva?" Yuuki was already sliding her phone out to make the order.

"Garlic bread sounds good, sure." Sheva didn't have a problem with pineapple on pizza, nor the garlic bread suggestion, so she didn't mind at all.

* * *

Tobias and Valentine returned to the sharp scent of the pizza and garlic, both sharing an amused glance, smirking as they went inside.

"Yo, dad, we got something to tell you." Yuuki's voice came from the living room, so the two of them appeared in her field of few, curious.

"And what would that be?" Tobias rested his forearm on the wall as he spoke.

"We got a legit interview request for Teen Vogue. They're doing a special on teen celebrities, and wanted us as part of it." Yuuki explained, shoving her mouthful of food into her cheek to speak.

"Have you told your mother this?" Tobias tilted his head to the side very slightly as he smirked.

"She's still not home yet." Yuuki shrugged, recalling that Rize informed them both that her meeting was for her new series of books, so it'd be several hours.

"You think so?" Rize called as she opened the front door, carrying her bag over her shoulder. "So what am I to be told?"

"We got a magazine interview request from Teen Vogue." Rachael lowered her pizza to speak. "And it's not a Syndicate trick either. We checked their information."

"So when is it?" Rize lowered her bag from over her shoulder and pulled off her heels.

"We have to call them back before we get a date, but they did say it was for next month's issue." Yuuki explained, her cheek still full of pizza. "I have their card, right here." She slid two fingers into her cleavage and retrieved the card. "We were gonna call them after we eat."

"That's all up to you, and if anything goes wrong, it's your problem. Bring your guns to the meeting, make it very clear that it's not negotiable." Tobias smirked. "By the way, Valentine... Yours is on your bed."

Valentine had long since lost interest in the conversation, so he left to retrieve his gift weapon. He came back with the large case over his shoulder and put it down on the floor, opening it with a curiously suspicious stare.

Inside was a weapon that resembled a shotgun, but clearly wasn't one. The barrel was too wide for buckshot.

"An MMS... I thought this never left prototype testing?" Valentine scrutinized the heavy looking weapon with a careful eye. "Micro Missile System." He added with a glance at his sisters confused expressions.

"Looks like a shotgun." Sheva commented, and Valentine smirked.

"It is. It shoots mini rockets, like this big." He held his thumb and index apart to show the size of the projectiles. "Not much power by themselves, that's why there's eight of them per round." With his other hand he extracted the grenade-launcher-sized round and held it up to them. "Sadly, they're dumb-fire rockets. The intended guidance system couldn't be shrunk down."

"You say otherwise?" Tobias knew his weapon choice for his son was a good one.

"Lasers are fun." Valentine winked cheekily before packing the weapon back into the case. "I have a guidance system in mind already, but it'll take me at least the rest of the summer to get it operational."

"So in other words...?" Sheva knew by his tone the words he wasn't saying.

" _Challenge accepted_."


	28. Chapter 28

"And here we have the studio, this is where your interview will be taking place, once things are smoothed out with your parents..."

"They're fine with it." Yuuki cut the intern off, idly twirling her butterfly knife in her fingers. Behind her, two security guards were watching warily, none too pleased by the openly carried weapons of the twin sisters. "So if you don't mind, coffee boy, we're here to speak with Gizelle and Francois."

"I'm sorry, but you arrived earlier than expected, they're both still in a meeting..." The intern didn't like being called a coffee boy, but he remained professional. As much as he could, of course.

"So you were buying time." Rachael spoke up with a smirk. "A simple, 'wait here,' would've worked just fine. No need to lead us by the nose."

"Actually, my dears, all of the candidates received the same treatment. You two are no exception. It's a part of our screening process." Gizelle's voice came from behind them, so they both spared her a glance over their shoulders to see the woman approaching without Francois by her side.

"So, you got our call. Today's the interview, right?" Yuuki asked, still playing with her knife in the usual intimidating clicks and fast movements.

"That's right. Into the studio, please. James, two black coffee's for the girls. Nothing added." Gizelle spoke to the intern, who nodded and quickly left as the three women entered the studio doors to see the rest of the teen celebrities that accepted for the magazine interview.

"Now, ladies and gentlemen, this is everyone that accepted our request for interviews in next month's special edition issue of the magazine. Your influence on teens worldwide is astounding, and your reasons, methods and ambitions as celebrities vary in unique ways. So, we at Teen Vogue have decided to share that the world over." Gizelle called out loud over the low buzz of chatting as the twins entered behind her, with Yuuki still playing with her knife.

"So, like, what's gonna happen? We can't all be interviewed at once." One blonde girl asked while chewing some gum.

"We've arranged for that, Miss Kallum." Gizelle smiled. "But, first, as we've agreed with everyone on an individual basis, each of you have provided us with a short trailer or montage of what makes you, dare I say, special. Now, sadly, our editing team didn't organize them in any discernible order, so if you could all take a seat, we'll share everyone's video to each other."

"Before we begin, are we permitted to record for our respective mediums?" A boy near the back of the group suddenly spoke up, holding his hand up to show where he was.

"Absolutely, but all we ask is that all are in agreement with this." Gizelle, who hadn't moved to the podium by the screen yet, stared at everyone to garner consent. Everyone gave nods or were already producing their phones or cameras to record the event. "Very well, go ahead and prepare your cameras, we shall begin momentarily."

Yuuki and Rachael turned to each other with a smirk, then reached into their biker jacket pockets to retrieve a recent purchase of theirs, a pair of flying camera drones. Within a minute, the two drones were hovering overhead, the camera on Yuuki's aimed to the screen while Rachael's was aimed at themselves for a facecam. Each was linked with their phones, so all they had to do was tap a command in the app to control the drone.

* * *

As Gizelle stated, the video's were in a completely random order, each particular group or individual had their same screentime, and last of them all was the twins. Their video - a collection of particular moments, images or quotes from their website and livestreams - was expertly arranged by Motoko and themselves, so by no stretch of the word, everyone was impressed by their montage, which ended with a peel of Yuuki and Rachael's giggling from the seats at the back.

"So, now that everyone's gotten a taste of each other's particulars, we'll begin the interviewing process, as arranged in our original phone calls to each of you. You are free to leave immediately afterwards."

"Now for the fun part." Rachael commented to her twin in Japanese as the collected their drones and shut them down.

"This is nothing, we sit there, answer their questions, look sexy. Just like school, but not boring as fuck." Yuuki chuckled as she replied in Russian.

"Good point." Rachael agreed.

* * *

"Think you got things figured out?" Valentine asked, watching Sheva's progress carefully.

"Controls are good, I think I've got it all figured out." Sheva replied. "How's the rest coming along?"

"With this... or the ship?" Valentine asked.

"Ship." Sheva replied.

"Magno-Core's still not in yet, but everything else is done. Once I authorize the core's installation, the ship will be prepared for live weaponry and a test flight with my selected crew." Valentine tapped at his data tablet a few times, running some numbers.

"Test flight? I thought everything was set for the six month timeline?" Sheva was confused by the revelation.

"The railguns put us ahead of schedule by three weeks. We're ready for the test flight within 72 hours." Valentine smirked suddenly, but continued by ending his math work and looking up at Sheva. "Things are looking good, I might need to visit the monkeys again, give them an update."

"Monkeys?" Sheva was unfamiliar with the name.

"The government. A congress is a group of baboons, like how a group of crows are called a murder. Hence they're nicknamed the monkeys." Valentine explained. "It's Dad's nickname for them."

"Suddenly everything makes much more sense..." Sheva finally understood some of Tobias' unusual comments she'd overheard a few times.

* * *

"Are you sure about this?" Tobias stared at the documents he'd been given.

"Absolutely." Seras Victoria, the busty blonde Englishwoman was completely confident in the information she'd just presented to him. "They're at least three weeks behind you, maybe a month. If all goes well for them, or they get more manpower, I can easily see them catching up to your son."

"And what has Sir Integra managed to find?" Tobias asked, sighing in thought.

"She delegated that to my Master. He hasn't returned yet, which worries me." Seras averted her gaze slightly.

"If he's as good as you've told me, then you have nothing to fear." Tobias reassured her. "Now, have you got time for a drink or are you needed back in London?"

"Sadly, yes. I must go. Perhaps another time?" Seras looked apologetic as her left arm turned a sinister red and black, reaching towards the nearby wall.

"I'll see you then." Tobias smiled and nodded as she opened a shadowy mass and stepped through, vanishing with a cheery smile and a wave of her right hand. "Now to call Wick..." Tobias commented to himself as he pulled out his phone and called the middleman between himself and John.

"Hello, Continental concierge, how may I help you?"

"I'd like to speak to the owner, if he's available." Tobias replied, reaching into his suit's inner pocket and produced a few very special golden coins.

"One moment please... Reaper."


	29. Chapter 29

"Room for one?"

"Dah, odin." Tobias replied, handing over two coins to the familiar man at the front desk of the Continental.

"Room 394, a smoking permitted room, Mr. Darkwood. And do enjoy your stay at the Continental." The deskman slid the coins off the counter and replaced them with the room key. "Mr. Wick shall be informed of your arrival immediately."

"Spasibo." Tobias accepted the key and went to the elevator, showing the key's number to the attendant inside, who took him to the proper floor. Tobias went to his room, opened it and closed the door with his Telekinesis, standing at the window with a careful eye. Several possible sniper perches were visible, some even beyond a normal marksman's ability. After scanning them all in turn, he evaluated the best one for a human and smirked just before a knock came from his door.

"Good seeing you again, Toby." John Wick smiled at the similarly dressed man staring out the window as he entered the suddenly opened door. "How many spots?"

"Two concern me, but one's too tempting to ignore." Tobias replied without turning around. He knew and trusted Wick, so it was a subtle symbol of that trust to allow the older man to stand behind him.

"So, you mentioned laying a trap for the Syndicate. Something about a key target here in New York?" Wick closed the door behind himself, speaking in English despite his fluency in Russian.

"Key is an understatement. This is vital." Tobias turned around and produced a cigar and his lighter. "I need them alive, and they know I'm in town. Ran into a Syndicate rat at the airport." He added the last part as he lit his cigar.

"So you're doing it boldly?" Wick smiled at Tobias' nearby bags. He didn't need to check it to know they contained Tobias' guns, ammo and gear.

"My new exosuit's in the dufflebag. Valentine upgraded the old T-13's to the T-15's." Tobias chuckled. "Care to join me for the fun part?"

"I'll make the arrangements." Wick smiled before turning to leave, but paused. "Oh, there's a new rule on premises... No hunting. I'm sure you understand why."

"I came prepared for the sort. I'll see you downstairs at the bar." Tobias smiled as he exhaled some smoke.

* * *

"Tobias... To what do we owe the pleasure?" Winston smiled at the tall frame of Tobias standing beside Wick in the entrance to the hidden bar beneath the Continental.

"Prep work for some personal matters in the city." Tobias replied, still smoking the cigar from his room. "I figured I should enjoy a drink while I work things out."

"Now now, I know you my boy..." Winston began, but Tobias held up a small, very old bottle of pills with a smirk.

"I have that part covered. Trust me." Tobias smirked, knowing exactly how many G-Serum pills were remaining inside the bottle. He'd kept them after all the years since Umbrella, only using them for special occasions. "I'd like a White Russian, to start."

"I'll let the bar know." Winston nodded in understanding, recognizing the small Umbrella logo on the side of the faded label. He left, allowing Tobias and Wick to take a seat at a wall booth to go over the intel they had on Tobias' target.

"So, how are the kids?" Wick smiled as Tobias produced his phone, noticing the background on it was of his family.

"The twins are preparing for college, Valentine's been busy with BSAA projects, and Sheva's been managing to keep up with us. Rize's new book is due to be released at the start of September, and Serenity's going to be in town for the new season of Ink Masters as a guest judge next week." Tobias replied as he brought up the target's information. "Here's our guy... He's about equal to a sergeant in their ranks, but he's in charge of regional intelligence gathering for LA."

"Any military history?" Wick read the profile, already thinking of tactics to use.

"Not US military, but he's definitely received Syndicate training. I highly doubt he'll be unarmed or unguarded too." Tobias accepted his drink from a waitress, then took one of the G-Serum pills before sipping his drink. "Been too long since I tasted such good vodka... For obvious reasons, of course."

"So what hardware are we going to be working with?" Wick read more, knowing the location and surroundings they'd be working with. A sniper rifle would work excellently, but so would close quarters wetwork, with Tobias working to the same end, either was possible.

"I'm going in for close contact, sniper support will be perfect. Unless you want to join me." Tobias pulled out a small hologram projector, already loaded with a map of the area they'd be working in. "He'll be here, overseeing a meeting. Whole building belongs to the Syndicate, they operate it under the guise of a Mafia branch. So we should expect hefty firepower."

"I know the place. Did some business there, good lines of sight from this rooftop." Wick indicated the particular roof, but continued speaking. "But they'll know that if you're the one that created their training."

"So tag team it is." Tobias drank some more of his White Russian. "Need a kit?"

"You have a new gun, I can tell." Wick smiled as they concluded their prep work and sat back to enjoy their drinks - and for Tobias, his cigar - before going ahead with the assault.

* * *

"Position 3, check in."

"Perimeter clear."

"Position 4, check in."

"VIP's arr..."

"Position 4, repeat."

"VIP's on site. Over."

"Copy that, Position 4. All teams, VIP's on premises. Snipers, survey and secure."

"Sniper team 1 copies."

"Team 2, copy."

Wick smirked at the systematic chatter over the hijacked radio channel. Tobias knew exactly where the snipers were, and was already on the inside, preparing countermeasures. Wick was waiting for Tobias' signal, then would attack the front gate, where four guards with assault rifles were watching.

"Wick, tick tack." Tobias reported a moment later, the signal to attack, already in position to cover Wick's approach.

"On it." Wick replied, breaking cover and raising his own M4a2, opening fire on the guards and took two down in just as many seconds. The others raised their own rifles but were shot from behind by Tobias, and the two hitmen were already on the move, taking out half a dozen more guards that came running from the gunfire.

"All teams, we are under attack, two shooters at the front gate! Position 4 is KIA, I repeat, two shooters, position 4 is KIA!"

Wick and Tobias were already taking cover from the suppressing fire, but they shared a glance at each other, nodded, and broke cover as Tobias covered Wick in Ice Skin and ignored the tings of bullets hitting himself as he lifted his new custom MG4, Ripper, and took out several guards in quick succession.

"Shit, what the fuck is that?!" The guards didn't seem to know about Tobias' powers - or likely his existence for that matter - so they just fired and fired at the two men, falling back to draw them into view of the sniper teams.

But, before the two snipers could fire, their entire vision was filled by a floating wall of ice, preventing them from taking a shot. And down below, the other guards were being effortlessly slaughtered one by one, until the ice walls vanished and the two men disappeared from their view.

Inside, both men worked in tandem to sweep and clear, going room by room and floor by floor until they reached the most heavily guarded place yet, over two dozen guards in tactical gear were waiting with their guns raised, more than one was a Ghoul with their Kagune out and ready.

"Wait, don't fire." Tobias held up his hand to stop Wick from shooting. "We don't have time for this."

With a sudden crunching of bones, all of the men's necks were twisted in full circles, all of them crumpling to the ground at the same time.

"Move." Tobias raised Ripper and went for the door, listening through the metal surface for a moment, detecting the sound of several frantic movements and guns being prepared. "I'm going to blow the door off."

Wick understood, moving behind Tobias as the doors were blasted inwards by his Telekinesis, both springing into action to take down the last few guards before coming face to face with their target, armed with only a pistol.

"Darkwood... Who's that under the Skin?" The man sneered.

"An associate. Now, give me that." Tobias disarmed the man of his gun and forced him to levitate in the air. "Now, enough bullshit. You're going to make this part easier on yourself by answering my questions. My associate here is an expert at torture... Not that I'm not either."

"I'm not telling you shit, Darkwood!"

"I only have two questions." Tobias ignored the defiance. "Who is leading the Syndicate and why are they after my family?"

"I don't have that kind of information, and even if I did, why would I fucking tell you?!"

"You do have that information, actually." Wick spoke up and stepped forward. "You're not the only one with an information network, we were directed to you by our previous targets. You have the answer to those two questions."

"All I know about the leader is that she's named Alex. Nothing else." The man sneered. "She never lets anyone know shit about anything, not even her big shots above me!"

"Excellent. Thank you for your assistance in this... Family matter." Tobias and Wick spun on their heels as the man's neck was twisted around like the guards outside of the panic room.

"Excellent work, starik." Tobias thanked Wick as they drove back to the Continental in Wick's Mustang, their gear bagged in the trunk.

"That suit of yours is quite the sight to see in action. Must make your BSAA work a breeze." Wick smiled, having watched how Tobias moved so effortlessly in the T-15 armoured exosuit during their assault.

"Damn right it does." Tobias chuckled. "And it's all thanks to Valentine."


	30. Chapter 30

"Alex... huh? And a woman to boot." Rize regarded her husband's findings from New York carefully. "Typical Syndicate bullshit, nothing more than a name and gender."

"I got more after that." Tobias replied. "I did a system search within the original slew of Syndicate intel from Raccoon City, and came across something rather concerning."

"And what would that be?" Rize raised an eyebrow behind her glasses.

"My aunt's name was Alex. Guess which side of the family?" Jake came around the corner with his arms crossed.

"Son of a bitch..." Rize's jaw dropped. "Wesker had a sister?!"

"Damn right. Alexandra Wesker, she'd be in her mid-fifties now." Tobias smirked at the expanse of intel they'd gotten from a mere name and gender. "So, after a quick chat with Koko and a few other international informants, she informed me that Miss Wesker was last seen in some rather surprising locations over the last six months. Tokyo... Moscow... Ottawa... London... Berlin... She's going for the governments of each country she visits. BSAA has personnel on alert worldwide, checking with governing parties with the description we'd managed to glean from old family photo's from Jake."

"Good thing I didn't burn them, eh?" Jake smirked. "She kinda cared about me as a kid, whenever she'd visit us. Haven't really seen her for the past ten years though, probably be about the time she took over the Syndicate."

"I would assume that's the case, yeah." Tobias nodded. "Which means we finally know who's leading the Syndicate... and have a general direction as to the _why_."

"Little sister is mad that we killed her big brother." Rize commented in Japanese, earning a nod from Tobias and Jake - who understood most of what Rize said.

"Now we just need to catch the bitch." Jake laughed slightly. "So, any idea where she's headed next?"

"Koko, Seras and Motoko are dealing with that one. Stella's gone back to Japan to check with Section 9, try and enlist their assistance over there. Old Aramaki's got strong connections in their Parliment."

"Yuuki's not gonna be pleased to hear about that..." Jake commented to himself, just as the sisters came through the nearby front door, having heard what their dad just said.

"Oh no, it's cool. I paid her a visit before she left, made sure she was walking funny when she left, y'know." Yuuki grinned as they kissed each other. "Too bad Motoko was already gone, would've had some fun with her too..."

"You are insatiable..." Rachael commented as she pulled her helmet off, shaking her hair back into shape.

"I can't help being this sexy, you should know that, of all people!" Yuuki countered. "But dat booty though! Mmmmph!" She groaned happily at the mental imagery of Stella's infamous backside. "How can you _not_ want to just squeeze it and play with it and _fuck_ it?!"

"Because yours is better." Rachael replied, pulling her twin right into an amused kiss. "Mmmmmmmm... And you have better tits."

"So, your aunt's going after federal government agencies, and some intel that Seras gathered for me has shown how and possibly why she's doing it all so quickly." Tobias indicated a small stack of documents on the coffee table. "Syndicate's been trying to copycat the Nightfall."

"Bullshit, they can't do that without Valentine!" The twins separated right away, stepping forward to read the papers gathered by the Hellsing Organization. "Fucking hell, England's building one for her... Russia... Germany's making two... China... Canada's providing supplies and builders... What the fuck?! How many ships does she even want?"

"We've only been able to confirm 13 ships are being constructed." An English accented voice spoke up from the middle of the room, quickly followed by the appearance of Seras Victoria through her strange red and black portal. "Her Majesty personally sent me with some mixed news, Tobias."

"Before we begin, Jake, girls... Meet Seras Victoria, she's a vampire working for the Hellsing Organization over in London."

"Vampire?" Jake shared a glance with the twins. "Like, Dracula, ' _I vant to suck your blood~!_ ' Vampire?" He adopted a cheeky Romanian accent as he spoke.

"That's right. My Master is Alucard, in service to Sir Integra Fairbrook Windgates Hellsing. I am bound to him by blood." Seras placed her normal hand to her generous chest.

"So we're not the only interesting ones in the world, huh?" Rachael smirked before allowing the vampiric woman to speak to their father about the report.

"So, her Majesty informed me of two things; the first, the ship we've been coerced into building for this Alexandra Wesker is less than a week from launching. Second, the woman herself is going to be in London for the next two weeks, for talks with the Royal military regarding the ship, designated 'Ship 4' of her intended fleet."

"Are we safe to assume she doesn't know we're coming?" Tobias smirked.

"As far as I know, she's still on edge after the raid you conducted in New York." Seras shrugged. "So she's logically be taking security precautions during her visit."

"Anyone up for a trip across the pond?" Rize chuckled darkly, knowing that her children wouldn't be too keen on being left out of something of this magnitude.

"I think it's safe to say we're all gonna be joining you..." Jake laughed, already pulling out his phone to call Sherry.

* * *

"You sure picked quite the venue for this meeting, Madam Wesker." Colonel Saunders, with his fellow military officers, were seated with the older woman in her sharp white suit at a high class restaurant, reserved for her alone, so there were no civilians to overhear the rather top secret topic they'd be discussing.

"Believe me, this is nothing for me." Alexandra Wesker smiled slightly, despite it not reaching her eyes. Her cold gaze remained focused on Saunders as one of her security team approached and spoke quietly into her ear in fluent German, her native tongue. "Excellent, thank you for the update."

"Problems, Ma'am?" Saunders raised an eyebrow curiously.

"Not at all, good news, actually." Alex Wesker shook her head. "I was just informed that Ship 4 is fully operational, and fit for an immediate launch as we speak. It can fly over this very building within thirty minutes."

"So, what, pray tell, is your reasoning for speaking to us at such a late stage?" Another officer, a Lieutenant-Major, asked curiously.

"I require trustworthy personnel, specifically for Ship 4, as security and crew members From either the Royal Air Force, or the Royal Navy. I'd prefer not the Army due to the nature of the vessel, I'm sure you understand."

"Have you cleared this with the Prime Minister and Her Majesty?"

"Yes, I have." Alex Wesker reached for her nearby wine and took a sip before continuing. "I need a crew of thirty men, and a security force of at least another 120. I'm sure you can glean such a force for me without much trouble, gentlemen."

"A hundred and fifty men for one ship?" The officers exchanged glances, thinking about the requests. "And what about training the crew? This flying ship of yours isn't a normal vessel, by any means."

"I have that covered, not to worry." Alex replied. "Now, shall we partake in our meal, seeing as our negotiations are complete?"

* * *

Tobias smirked at the conversation he was eavesdropping on via a set of planted audio bugs placed by Serenity and Seras mere minutes beforehand. He'd heard everything so far, and with Alice on-hand to handle the languages, she'd relayed the German to English for everyone else.

"So what're we gonna do to this bitch? I can see her from here." Yuuki asked over their radio line, perched on a rooftop as sniper support - like Rachael and Piers also were - with Lucky Lady almost certainly aimed at Alex Wesker's head as she spoke.

"We can't just take her down, Yuuki. I'm running a scan on that building, all the windows are bulletproof. It's a high class joint, makes sense they'd protect their patrons." Alice reported from their hidden truck with all their tech equipment.

"How bulletproof are we talking here?" Yuuki challenged, well aware that her .308 rifle had it's limits at times.

"Lady wouldn't do shit, honey. Scanner's saying it's rated for .50 cal."

"Piers?" Yuuki asked hopefully.

"Negative, ma'am. I don't have a shot." Piers replied immediately, even though he'd made sure to install the .50 BMG kit for his UT-2015 rifle, just for this mission.

"So what's the plan?" Rachael spoke up, checking on her twin with Ping's scope from across the rooftops. She hadn't wavered her sights from Alex Wesker in the slightest since they'd set up positions around the restaurant.

"Seras, Serenity, are you two able to regroup with us here?" Tobias asked over the line, and received silence for a moment from the two blondes.

"Not yet, we need to get out of the dining hall first." Serenity reported, then Seras spoke up.

"I can use a portal for both of us, meet me in the ladies room."

"Oh, is the vampire getting kinky with the T-Ghoul now?" Serenity couldn't help but tease as they snuck inside with a touch of illusion from each, to prevent the door from being seen opening, and vanished from the building entirely, materializing outside of the van where Alice, Sherry and Sheva were located. Tobias was smoking outside as they arrived.

"Don't mind her, Seras, she doesn't know better." Tobias smirked as he exhaled his smoke. "Now, as for the plan, I figure a chat with Miss Wesker after her dinner is in order. Nobody on our side is to shoot first, return fire only."

"So what's the formation, sir?" Chris asked, situated in an escape car with Carlos and Finn, all in full kit with their weapons.

"I'll do the meet and greet, Rize, Alice, Sheva and Sherry stay on support. Seras, Sere, back me up. Yuuki, Rachael and Piers, overwatch. Everyone else, stay as is until either exfil or shit hits the fan. Standard urban protocol if that's the case."

"Copy that." Everyone chorused in unison at his words, so after handing over Serenity's and Seras' hidden weapons, he calmly and boldly walked across the street and leaned on the lamp post with his cigar, aided by Serenity's illusion on his hair and eyes to fool the nearby guards standing at the restaurant's doors.

As he did so, he scanned the surrounding area for other guards hiding in plain sight. A few likely ones caught his eye, but for the most part, it appeared that Alex's security team was inside with her. No big deal, in all honesty. He had the tactical upper hand right now.

Half an hour later, the guards outside - Tobias now had a newspaper from a nearby newsstand and was sitting on a bench - started receiving new orders over their earpieces, and stepped towards the doors. Tobias noticed and whispered into his own. "Sere, Seras, on me. Quietly. No portal."

"Coming." Serenity replied, more than likely making the two of them invisible as they came across the street to stand behind him at the bench. She tapped his shoulder to let him know they'd arrived, just as the guards at the restaurant opened the doors for Alex Wesker and her entourage of armed guards as a limo pulled up the curb, right on cue.

"I shall see you all at the launch, gentlemen..."

"Plagiarism, I say. People trying to claim the greatness of others as their own." Tobias spoke aloud, ruffling his newspaper pointedly. It drew Alex's gaze, and she stared at him coldly for the interruption.

"I thought security gave the all clear..." Alex hurriedly commented to one of her guards, so he gestured for the two that had been outside the whole time to deal with Tobias.

"Sir, this is a private affair, I'm going to have to ask that you..."

"Nope." Tobias tossed his paper onto the bench and stood up. "I have business with that woman."

"And what business would that be?" Alex challenged loudly, crossing her arms.

"Let's start with why you're controlling my old organization, the Syndicate." Tobias chuckled. "And next, why and more importantly, how, you're copying my son's ship, the Nightfall? After that, maybe a chat about your political manipulation as well. You choose where to begin, Miss Alexandra Wesker."

"Darkwood..." Alex snarled, immediately taking a step back and patting her guards on the shoulder, a signal for danger. "I'll leave it all to your imagination, and leave the runt wondering about his little toy. Hold him off!" She barked the last part to the guards as she was rushed back into the building, all her men producing submachine guns from under their longcoats.

"Who said I was here for a fight?" Tobias slowly held up his hands. "Why would I want _shit to hit the fan_?"

That was the signal for everyone on his side to spring into action. He himself produced The Twins from inside his sleeves and executed the nearest guards as three distant gunshots went off in near perfect succession, knocking two more men back as they were struck by two .308's and one simply ceased to exist as he exploded from the mighty .50 BMG, and then they guy right behind him was left with a very large hole in his chest as he too succumbed to Browning's crown jewel of a round... And it left a huge ass crack in the stone behind the poor bastards too.

"Snipers! He's planned this!" A surviving guard immediately took the nearest piece of solid cover that could possibly withstand a direct hit from a .50 cal. "Enact hostile extraction plan two!"

"Seras, Sere, you mind taking care of that?" Tobias had a fresh cigar clamped in his teeth, taking precise shots at any hint of a guard's exposed body parts.

"On it, sweetie!" Serenity and Seras ran off, still invisible, so they were safe from being targeted when Piers caused some more hard cover to break into pieces, causing the stunned Syndicate soldier to scramble to safety to avoid the other two apparent snipers.

"Chris, Finn, Carlos, secure the back of the building." Tobias ordered in Russian, knowing that his men were fluent enough for conversations, and of course, combat orders. "Valentine, Mishka, kill the building."

"Dah!" A chorus of affirmations came through the radio, and barely three seconds later, the restraunt was plunged into darkness. Only the flashes from the gunfight out front provided any light.

"I'm coming in for some fun, Val's going after the broad!" Tabitha called over the radio, much to Tobias' annoyance.

"Val, what are you thinking?!" Tobias barked into the line in Russian, still shooting the guards while aided by Piers' UT-2015 and his daughter's .308's. All of the guards' rounds were harmlessly pinging off his body and the sidewalk.

"I want a word with the old hag about _my_ ship!"

"GET BACK HERE!" Tobias abandoned the few remaining guards for his snipers to handle, breaking away at a full sprint as he spat out his cigar while deploying his T-15 and Boosting up to a wall and running over some dumpsters in pursuit of his defiant son. " _VALENTINE_!"

"She's not getting away from me!" Valentine countered from up ahead, his voice echoing down the alley slightly.

"I sent Seras and Serenity! Not you!" Tobias caught up to his son and tackled him to safety as several additional guards came out of the nearby loading bay and opened fire as they spread out behind some soft and hard cover spread around the area. "Shit!"

Tobias and Valentine brought their guns up - Valentine had his Colt - and shot back, neither missed once as the last guard dropped to the ground. Valentine reloaded as he charged forward into the doors they'd come from, quickly followed by his father to find Alex Wesker crouched behind some hard cover inside the loading bay.

"Feeling ready to speak to us now?" Valentine shoved his Colt under her jaw.

"You've been outsmarted, Darkwood. I'll see you in the skies, child." Alex grinned as her body suddenly jerked violently, so Valentine grabbed her and suddenly gasped as he sensed all of the metal in her body... A prosthetic, remote body.

"Not if I have a say in it!" Valentine pulled a device from his belt of pouches and latched it onto the back of Alex's neck with a couple sparks. She snarled in anger, unable to self-suicide the remote body's connection with the device in place, leaving her movements jerky and clearly difficult to manipulate with such a limited connection. "Now then... My ship."

"I refuse to speak to the likes of you. You're wasting your time and resources on a decoy!" Alex's jaw worked awkwardly as she spoke, still fighting the device that Valentine had latched onto her neck.

"You sure?" Valentine pressed his gun harder into her throat. "I've trapped your control here, and you don't have a chance of physically getting away from us either, so... I ask again; My ship. What are you planning to do with 13 copies of it?"

Alex's decoy laughed arrogantly. " _War_." She suddenly grabbed Valentine's gun and forced him to pull the trigger, the .45 ACP FMJ round went straight up and through her remote cyberbrain, blowing the top of her head right off.


	31. Chapter 31

" _FUCK!_ " Valentine smashed what remained of Alex's face with his free hand. His rage was accompanied by a powerful radiating magnetic field, repelling any loose metallic objects around him.

"She got away, all hands, return to the front of the restaurant, we have cleanup duty." Tobias spoke into the radio as he holstered The Twins and approached Valentine. "Let's go, we're done here."

"I will find her, and I will end her..." Valentine snarled as he fell into step with his father and returned to the rest of his family, where they were already being interrogated by the London police. Seras was nowhere to be seen, for good reason, having agreed beforehand to vanish back to Hellsing Manor - where they'd initially come from to do the mission - before the police became the wiser.

* * *

"Enter."

Sir Integra, seated at her desk with an unlit cigar in her teeth, glanced up to see Walter holding the door open for Tobias and Seras, who'd arranged the report on the Syndicate skirmish in the city.

"So, how'd it go?" Sir Integra asked, leaning back in her chair and staring her one remaining eye at Tobias in particular.

"It was all going according to plan until myself and Valentine captured Alex Wesker... She was using a remote prosthetic body, the whole meeting was done by proxy, she was never there."

"Seems she outsmarted you, Captain..." Sir Integra smiled slightly. "An... Ace up her sleeve, if you will."

"Valentine's quick action delayed her digital suicide within the body, and in those precious few seconds, we were able to isolate her relay signal's source." Tobias explained. "Source signal came from the German embassy here in London."

"Meaning she's using diplomatic immunity to her advantage. Clearly Germany is her country of origin, otherwise these details would be illogical." Sir Integra lit her cigar as she spoke. "Now then... Do you have any further plans here in England, Captain, or shall I arrange for the plane back to Los Angeles?"

"The plane, sadly. Our mission was a failure." Tobias lit his own cigar as well. "If Seras could continue to be your house representative, that would be most excellent, Sir Integra."

"Of course, I shall inform the airfield immediately." Sir Integra picked up her desk phone as Tobias gave his wave before turning to leave.

* * *

"I want the ship airborne within the week."

"Sir, that's not possible!"

Valentine put his feet up onto the table with two powerful thuds, crossing his arms and glaring at the holograms of his workers. "Six days..."

"Sir!"

" _Five_."

"Fuck... Sir, what happened in London that warranted this sudden rush to complete the ship?" The man in charge of the ship's weaponry asked, much more calmly than the rest.

"We have a major security breach, the Nightfall's design has been copied by a certain organization you're not privy to knowing. They've pissed me off, so get your doubts the fuck out of my project. Get my ship in the air by Friday, otherwise I will use the ship on _you_!"

"Understood... Mr. Darkwood."

* * *

"... And the dude just exploded, it was fuckin' badass!" Yuuki recounted the events to Stella and Motoko in person, having amassed six kills for herself with Lucky Lady. Rachael also had six kills, but Piers... He killed eleven men, and their dad had a rather surprising seven kills. All 30 of Alex Wesker's guards had been killed by the four of them, and of course, Alex took herself with Valentine's Colt.

"Seriously diggin' the new outfit babe!" Stella was caressing Yuuki's combat outfit with both hands from behind, her eyes twinkling mischievously.

Aside from her pouches and holsters, Yuuki's outfit consisted of a black tank top under a Kevlar armoured tactical corset laden with her mag pouches and several throwing knives. Her belt was covered with more ammo for her guns, but left her stomach slightly bared, hinting her tattoos on her lower back and hips - plus left room for her Kagune to form - and she likewise wore black cargo pants with Tarantula on her right leg and sturdy knee pads with sturdy combat boots, one of which had her kukri knife strapped to the side. On her head she wore a custom black BSAA beret - the standard one was green - with a fitted black half mask emblazoned with a partial rendition of her signature spider logo over the mouth and nose. Hers was red, and Rachael - who had the same outfit, mask and beret - had a blue one. The only difference between their outfits was their ammo's types and layouts.

"I was camping my tits off on a roof, didn't get to have as much fun as I'd have liked." Yuuki knew she was in for some sex, given the way Stella was feeling her up and Motoko was silently staring at them with a very shrewdly amused expression. "Calyptica's getting a bit dusty, I wish the Syndicate would grow a pair and bum rush us at some point. At least Neo-Umbrella kept things interesting..." She grumbled as Motoko suddenly stood up with a sly smirk on her face.

"Well, I can tell you need to relax, so shall we get started by peeling you out of all your gear?" Motoko teased, placing on hand on the side of Yuuki's masked face. "I'm sure Rachael wouldn't mind if we got first dibs... This time."

"Sherry kinda... Doesn't really care anymore about which twin she fucks..." Yuuki chuckled as she accepted the first of Motoko's teasing kisses on her neck.

"But we do." Stella didn't even hesitate before joining in with her usual mockery of a smile.

* * *

Back in London...

The real Alex Wesker sat at the head of a boardroom table, surrounded by her twelve most trusted subordinates within the entire Syndicate.

"Has the Family made it back home yet?" Wesker asked suddenly, breaking the silence among them since their mole in the London police reported they'd left from London International less than three hours after their assault on the meeting with the decoy for Ship 4's manpower.

"Their flight arrived at LAX two hours ago, ma'am. Local assets reported safe return home, with house guests, the Kusanagi's." Her second-in-command, Vigo Terasov, reported after taking a sip of his coffee. "Latest report was thirty minutes ago."

"Have we located their local assets involved in the assault?" Wesker glanced at him briefly as she spoke.

"Nyet, nothing so far. Police reports only the Family was present for the assault. The BSAA personnel seen on-site were from Tobias' own team in America."

"And the snipers?"

"His twin daughters, and one of the BSAA soldiers from his team." Vigo continued. "Only Family member not confirmed to have been present was Kaneki."

"Why is that?" Alex Wesker wondered aloud, then remembered that it was mid-August, so the man was preparing for the school year to begin again. "Oh, he's a teacher..."

"What do you plan to do, Mother? The destroyed your good remote body decoy, and got away scott free." Another member of her inner circle, her own son Zenith, leaned his arms on the boardroom table, staring at his mother with narrowed eyes.

"Send an assault team to the Nightfall's shipyard, tell them to bring heavy weaponry. Their target... Is the younger daughter, Sheva. She's known to be there on a regular basis." Alex Wesker glanced over at Zenith as she gave the order to the woman in charge of organizing such things, Carla Wong.

"Just confirming details, ma'am... The adopted daughter, Valentine's girlfriend?" Carla asked, knowing the very hefty risks of such an attack on the gender fluid boy's dearest loved one.

"Yeah, the Nigerian cyborg girl." Vigo nodded. "I know for a fact that she doesn't have a cyberbrain, just that arm of hers."

"Shall I attend the assault personally, ma'am?" Carla asked, rising to her feet.

"No. Organize from the shadows." Wesker shook her head. "Scheduling is up to you and your personnel."

"Yes ma'am." Carla left the boardroom, already considering the men she'd use for the attack on the girl.

"Oh, before you leave Carla..." Wesker called the Asian woman back, and she stood in the doorway. "Bring the girls from Section Four as a backup plan, just in case things don't go well."

"Understood, ma'am."


	32. Chapter 32

"How's the arm?" Valentine asked, tapping out commands into his data tablet.

"Elbow's feeling stiff, but the wrist damage's repair from our assault in London when I punched that bodyguard is fine."

"I meant the Cherub's left arm. I calibrated the shoulder servo earlier before you hopped in."

"Oh, well, it feels much better since the last time I was at the helm." Sheva reported, the large 28 foot tall mech's cockpit wide open as she tested the fine tuned limb, her movements inside matching the whole mech in perfect sync thanks to her custom T-15 Exosuit variant designed exclusively for controlling the Cherub, designated the T-15A2 Pilot model.

The Cherub was a combat mech, designed by Valentine to act not only as the Nightfall's figurehead, but also as additional firepower both aboard the ship as well as on the ground. Valentine wanted Sheva to act as the pilot and had been training her in how to control it for months now, and it was combat ready. Right now was just fine adjustments after a practice session just before the London skirmish.

At present, the pair were standing aboard the Nightfall's deck, their usual training area with the Cherub, and Valentine was idly hovering level with Sheva in the cockpit on his hoverboard, tapping at his tablet. Compared to the last four months of breakneck work to the ship, today was a mere skeleton crew working directly on the Magno-Core that had been installed that morning, rendering the Nightfall fully operational on all systems. In fact, the only reason it was still on the ground was the loading of the support aircraft, the Cherub's last few modifications, and loading all of the munitions and supplies for the crew.

"So, any ideas for a name for the AI I'm adding to assist you in there?" Valentine asked, since the main core of the AI itself - due for installation just behind Sheva's lower back inside the cockpit - was currently resting on his hoverboard between his feet.

"You mean a name for the whole thing?" Sheva teased, since giving her mech a literal personality meant giving it a proper identity, and therefore a name. "I'm sure you've already rigged the AI with a personality already?"

"You know, I left that part dynamic. Motoko helped me code it." Valentine commented, still tapping away at his tablet. "The personality will develop as it gets to know you, not to mention the others around it, like Dad or me."

"The way you said that makes me think I have to teach it like it's a toddler..." Sheva commented as she disconnected her suit from the system link and set the Cherub to stand idle, then powered down all systems until it was completely inert, then climbed out of the still open hatch and used her suit's Boosters to descent safely to the deck with a clunk of metal as her boots made contact. Valentine, however, drifted his hoverboard over to the Cherub's cockpit and lifted the AI's core into one hand, then shoved it into the awaiting slot and backed away from the suddenly reactivated mech, watching the cockpit seal itself and the armour to lock into place as it came back online.

"Confirming ID... ID confirmed; Darkwood, Valentine. Greetings, sir." The mech's computerized voice spoke up loudly, several of the main optical sensors tracking the idle sway of Valentine's hoverboard in the air before it. "Locating pilot..."

Again, the sensors searched the deck, then the whole thing tilted forward to look down, immediately spotting Sheva in front of itself with her hands on her hips.

"Pilot located. Greetings, Sheva."

"State your current command directives." Sheva spoke up, and the mech - still unnamed as of yet - took a step back before crouching down onto one knee and opening the armour and cockpit for her to enter.

"Understood. Currently set to Recon mode, status; green. All systems nominal, ready for active duty."

"Confirm your identification." Valentine spoke up suddenly.

"I have no data at present related to personal identification. Update required." The mech replied. "Required information: Standard ID, identification of gender through voice preference of pilot, and callsign for active duty."

"Standard ID and callsign are the same, revise paramaters." Valentine ordered, and the mech said nothing.

"I'll call you... Rico. Keep your current voice, I like it. You will identify with male pronouns." Sheva regarded her combat companion with a pleased smirk. "Information update complete, confirm your identification."

"I am Rico, Cherub-class combat mech for the BSAA's aquatic assault battleship, the Nightfall. My pilot is Sheva Alomar-Darkwood." Rico answered as Sheva climbed inside and he resealed his protective canopy around her as she linked with his systems. "Engaging manual pilot control. Primary and sidearm weaponry unavailable at present time, locations unknown."

"Proceed to the front of the superstructure, I've arranged for your weapons to be stored there while we ran diagnostics." Valentine pointed towards the large menacing superstructure behind them, so Rico spoke to Sheva just using the interior speakers rather than the external ones.

"Requesting autopilot, intention is to retrieve primary and sidearm weaponry from specified location."

"Alright, you drive." Sheva agreed, already feeling Rico beginning to turn and walk across the deck without having to move her legs. "Val, baby, what are you going to outfit Rico with? I've never seen what weapons you designed for him." Sheva spoke aloud, knowing that Rico enabled the external speakers for her since he was in autopilot as they walked.

"I've got a whole kit, thanks to Dad's recommendation, you have five primary weapons for Rico to use at any time, and two sidearms... I'm still building the third."

"Sweetie, can you send them to my screens?" Sheva asked, since she already knew that Rico was able to send and receive all forms of data, at an time.

"20mm T45 Assault Cannon, The Uppercut C66 electromagnetic shotgun, Tac-3 140mm multi-grenade launcher, 375mm T4 rocket launcher, and the Artemis energy bow. Sidearms are the 45x130mm Goliath revolver and the .50 cal Demonia autopistol. The one that's not finished yet is a semi-auto pistol, like the Goliath, just... not a revolver." Valentine sent the images of the weapons to Rico's HUD as he glided alongside the walking mech as they approached the seven shipping containers in a neat stack of four and three.

"Rico, which one do you think would work best? I think that bow... the Artemis." Sheva spoke to her mech, who gave a vocal humming sound, clearly evaluating the weapons.

"I agree, the Artemis is an excellent choice. Next selection would most likely have been the T45 Assault Cannon, which bears similarity to an infantryman's assault rifle or squad automatic weapon. For sidearm, I suggest the Goliath, for reliability and assured firepower."

"Alright, I'll open the containers that have them." Val heard the conversation and hopped off his board, opening the two containers with a wave of his hand and a screech of the metal moving. "Ammunition for the Goliath is in the top container. The Artemis is charged magnetically to create the plasma arrows you'll be firing."

"Understood, sir. Retrieving weaponry." Rico declared as he reached into each container and withdrew the two weapons, already provided with operation data by Valentine's tablet for all of the weapons. He then proceeded to place both weapons on the deck and crouch down for Sheva to climb out of his cockpit. "Sheva, I shall stockpile Goliath ammunition to maximum storage capacity, please disembark while I complete this task."

"Have fun with that." Sheva commented as she got out and approached Valentine, only for Rico to speak up.

"I do detect sarcasm in that statement."

* * *

"Op leader Wong here, recon team, report in." Carla Wong spoke into the team radio from her safehouse with the team technicians. They were controlling the drones and, as Carla suppressed an internal shudder, the P-36 Mobile Landmines, which were designed to resemble very creepy blonde girls. She wasn't fond of them, but Alex gave the order to use them, so she was. They were currently on standby inside the ship's superstructure, defending the jammer.

"Recon team here, all civilians are off site, we are in position for assault assist on the primary target. She's with Valentine, working on a robot aboard the main deck, near the superstructure."

"Grab your gear, we make our move in five minutes." Carla reported, signalling to the drone tech to begin his portion of the assault, using stealth-camouflaged attack drones to surround the two children, ensuring that they couldn't escape. Another technican was jamming any cellular and radio communications they may have with a locally placed device aboard the ship, thanks to the recon team. "Remember, our objective is to kill her. He'll try to protect her, so long as she dies, we succeed at destabilizing the Family."

"Yes, ma'am."

* * *

"Sheva, ammunition preparations are complete. Goliath is loaded and ready, with 54 extra rounds for use." Rico thudded over to his pilot, who was sassily perched atop one of the shipping containers with her legs crossed, seated right beside a hovering Valentine, tapping at his tablet for himself. He'd gone aboard the ship briefly to retrieve his bag, including his P90, which was now strapped to his chest, over top of his white sweater.

"Good work, Sheva, you might want to get into Rico... Right now." Valentine lowered his goggles over his eyes as he spoke. "I'm pretty sure we're about to be attacked by the Syndicate."

"I agree, sir. I am detecting electromagnetic interference coming from the command deck, most likely a wide area jamming signal, sir." Rico held his forearm out to Sheva as she smoothly transitioned from jumping to his arm and swinging her legs inside the cockpit, closing the canopy behind her as she linked to Rico and lowered her T-15's mask into place from her forehead. "Multiple Therm-Optic camoflauged targets in the vicinity, I count 25 of them."

"I see them, they're drones." Valentine continued to tap at his tablet, smirking for a moment as he heard the nearly silent engines of the drones... Nearly silent was not truly silent, now was it? "It's a security perimeter, to make sure we don't escape prematurely. Rico, can you scan their signatures, determine what they're carrying for weapons?"

"They're Dragonfly drones, sir. US Military, carrying 100 rounds of 9mm ammunition. Most likely copper rounds to reduce weight compared to Q-Bullets."

"Rico, if they're using copper..." Sheva's eyes widened in realization. The Syndicate was targeting... Her. "Then I'm their target."

"Yes, ma'am." Rico agreed with her conclusion. "Requesting autopilot for combat."

"Alright, you drive." Sheve agreed with this arrangement, to test Rico's abilities against the Syndicate assassination attempt.

"Valentine, sir... I would suggest disarming or destroying the jamming device, it's located in the command deck, near the helm." Rico sent the signal interception to Valentine's tablet, and earned a small nod.

"I can sense it, Rico. You keep them busy, and deal with these damn bugs on my ship." Valentine swung his hoverboard around as he detected over two dozen men moving through the ship's nearest cargo entrance towards them. "And don't forget about the drones while you're at it." He put his tablet onto his hoverboard between his feet, small clamps unfolding to hold it in place as he gripped his P90 and flew towards the nearest door, headed for the command deck.

"Shall I initiate commbat, or let them make the first move?" Rico asked Sheva, who was flexing her fingers on Rico's controls, already tensed to spring into action with manual control.

"WE KNOW YOU'RE INSIDE THE ROBOT, SHEVA. STEP OUT AND MAKE THIS EASY ON YOURSELF." A voice spoke up from outside, clearly using a megahorn as the foot soldiers came into view from several access doors, already using the ship's cover to stay out of sight.

"Wait for them to make a move, Rico." Sheva made her decision, watching as one soldier readied a rocket launcher with a projectile and shouldered it. "Anti-rocket systems online." She ordered to the voice-command system, which activated the defensive systems immediately.

Rico drew the Goliath from the leg holster incorporated to his left leg - Valentine's idea, since Sheva was a lefty and piloted Rico - and menacingly spun the chamber with a loud ratcheting sound before clicking back the large hammer with his thumb.

"Protocol one: Protect my pilot." Rico's voice came through the external speakers. "Engage me at your own risk, Syndicate soldiers."

" _FIRE!_ "

The rocket screamed through the air in an instant, but thanks to the countermeasure system, it exploded halfway to Rico by a blast of supersonic soundwaves as Rico leveled the Goliath at the soldier that fired the rocket.

"My turn."

With a blast very akin to a tank's main gun, the Goliath kicked in Rico's huge metal hand, blasting a huge cloud of red mist where the two men - one reloading the launcher, the other the one that fired at Rico - were crouched beforehand a mere second ago.

"Threats detected, engaging." Rico announced as he turned towards the weapon containers with the rest of his toys and produced the Demonia, which he'd thought ahead to load alongside the Goliath.

With a slew of .50 cal rounds, several more Syndicate soldiers were splattered all over the deck before they could bring their heavy weapons to bear at the hulking robot standing by the shipping containers with the two huge pistols in hand.

"Oooooh, the Demonia looks like fun. Remind me to try it out during the next engagement." Sheva smiled sadistically, clearly inheriting the Darkwood family's notorious sadism.

"Reminder saved." Rico replied internally, still chewing through the 100-round magazine at a respectable pace. "Shall I demonstrate another weapon, ma'am?"

"Give them a taste of the T45!" Sheva giggled, pleased by how pitiful the Syndicate soldiers were against Rico.

"An excellent choice, ma'am." Rico replied, holstering the Goliath and simply dropping the Demonia to the deck at his feet as he hefted the Assault Cannon out of the shipping crate, oblivious to the small arms pinging off his hull and the deflected rockets and grenades from the countermeasure system. The T45 was equal to an assault rifle, so he simple raised the weapon to his shoulder and started firing, tearing another group apart in a single burst of fire. "Detecting drone activity, deploying anti-air weapon system."

While still focusing the T45 on the infantry, two small hatches on his shoulders opened, revealing a pair of missile pods, which launched out a slew of homing missiles at the camouflaged drones, blowing them right out of the air before they could even react. The flurry of exploding drones and flying scrap sent the infantry ducking for more cover, and hunkered down under the hail of 20mm shells from Rico.

"Drones neutralized, none detected in vicinity, continuing scans for reinforcements. Infantry still active, anti-ordnance system at full efficiency, continuing to engage hostile troops." Rico reported to Sheve internally, dropping the T45 as it ran out of ammo, replacing it with the Uppercut C66 and blasting several soldiers off the side of the ship, all screaming in terror as they went. "I like this shotgun." He idly commented to Sheva with the internal speakers. "With a chassis modification, I think Valentine could allow for two primary weapons to be carried simultaneously. I shall discuss the suggestion with him after our current situation is resolved."

"Can you hack their comms signal? Even if it's being jammed, they're still connected to some sort of leader, right?" Sheva asked, checking her own uplink with Valentine, only to find it was still disabled, meaning Valentine was encountering resistance in the ship. "Val's still fighting his way to the jammer."

"Beginning backhack on enemy communications, allocating paramaters." Rico was, by no stretch of the word, easily keeping pace with the multiple dynamics of the battle, from monitoring Sheva, shooting, and scanning for new drones to the backhack and physical movement, plus the ordnance countermeasures - the soldiers were still trying to whittle that part down with rockets - he was an AI, with a state of the art processing core, this was barely 10% of his capacity. Child's play, was the term.

"How long?" Sheva asked, which made Rico provide her with a visual on the HUD. A GPS map showing the location of their comms signal's source. "That's not far from here. Are your Boosters online?"

"Yes, ma'am. All systems are operational. Shall I set a waypoint?"

"Damn right, that's our next target, the fuckers want me dead... Well I'd better knock on their front door... With the Goliath."

"Duly noted, ma'am." Rico seemed amused by the declaration. "However, might I suggest using the Tac-3 grenade launcher for the task? My scans indicate that the building is reinforced with steel armour panels."

"Then we try the T4." Sheva grinned with the same sadistic glint in her eyes. "You could always just kick their door down and let me loose inside."

"Negative, Protocol One dictates I must protect you."

"Who said I was going in alone? Valentine's been pissed about the ship's security breach since a recent mission in London. We're still working on who did it... I think it's one of his inner circle people, the leaders directing the crews with their tasks."

"A likely theory, ma'am." Rico agreed, seeing as the provided details would garner such a theory's authenticity. "Infantry numbers diminishing, shotgun appears to utilize a Magno-Core for power... Excellent." Rico would've been smiling if he could at this point. Near limitless ammunition was a very excellent feature of any weapon. "Shall I begin taking prisoners, or continue elimination?"

"We'll capture their leader, I heard patches of you two talking." Valentine's voice came through the line suddenly. "Bastards from my own building crew were the Syndicate's insiders, had to deal with them properly, y'know? Plus they had P-36's defending the damn jammer. But, the jammer's down, I'm coming to assist, tag me on your HUD, Rico."

"Copy that, sir." Rico followed the order, a blue indicator popping up in the screen to show Valentine's location to Sheva.

The last dozen Syndicate soldiers were sent flying by several blasts from the C66, screaming as they went, only to slow mid-flight and float in mid air, trying to almost swim through the air in attempts to reach safety, only to realize that Valentine was floating by himself in their midst, radiating magnetic energy as he heaved a huge sigh, two fingers pressed to his forehead, just above one eyebrow.

"Now I have to conduct repairs to my ship, all thanks to you jackasses, this delays our scheduling... Good thing we were three weeks ahead of your fleet, fucking pricks. Thanks for _dropping in_ , by the way..." Valentine smirked as he released them all from his magnetic grasp, causing them all to fall nearly 120 feet to their deaths over the side of the already 70 foot high deck of the Nightfall. "Rico, I'll hitch a ride on your hull, I like that shotgun idea too, I'll get a chassis design prepared while we handle yours and the ship's repairs... After we deal with their commander."

"Copy that, sir. All threats neutralized, returning manual control to pilot." Rico declared, lowering his new favourite toy, the Uppercut C66 shotgun. "Anti-ordnance system disabled, returning to Recon mode."

* * *

 **A/N: Rico was designed and envisioned long before Titanfall 2 was released, but... BT and Jack's relationship held some sway in more recent revisions to Rico's personality and some commentary. Basically, Rico is equivalent to an Atlas class Titan, like BT, but he's got a lot more upgrades and fun stuff like modular kits. He's also about twice the height of a Titan, and his cockpit (inside the torso) is very differently designed. Sheva stands up inside, and moves Rico quite similar to a Jaeger from Pacific Rim, using hand and leg controls that lock to her Exosuit. Unlike the Titanfall style of a seated Pilot. Rico can also override Sheva's manual control whenever necessary, unlike a Titan (to my knowledge, at least)**

 **Also, Rico is named from his prior comment about being set to Recon mode, and Sheva just put that connection together on the spot. Since his induction into the story, the name Rico was just a temporary placeholder name that just grew on me. Don't know why.**


	33. Chapter 33

**A/N: This chapter's been written for a while, just forgot to upload it, and it's intentionally short.**

* * *

"All drones are down, squad leader, give us a sitrep!"

"Miss Wong, what do we do? All of our Dragonfly drones are gone, and the P-36's are getting wiped out just as fast!"

Carla knew the problem with their plan at that very moment; Their own jammer was cutting them off from the assault teams.

"Prep for a counterattack on our position, our jammer is our Achilles! All personnel, grab weapons and tactical gear, prepare for possible attack from Valentine!" Carla ordered, spinning on her heel and grabbed her nearby G36c. Unlike the rest of the Syndicate, she didn't care for the full sized version of the venerable German firearm, rather, she was fond of the compact model, which was more fitting to her admittedly shorter arms than her older sister, Ada.

The technicians all had the standard Syndicate training, so they abandoned their computers and hurried to don their gear and grab weapons. By the time they were all ready, Carla had called in for an emergency extraction, and all they had to do was hold out and pray that Valentine didn't arrive before they did.

"All personnel in defensive positions, ma'am. Structural armour plating is electrically grounded and demagnetized in preparation for Valentine's arrival."

"And our exfil method?" Carla asked to the speaking soldier.

"Second floor will be target by a precision strike, we escape by helicopter extraction."

"Strike package and exact location?"

"Upper bathroom, standard ordnance missile." The soldier continued. "This is an extraction, not an attack, so the missile isn't loaded for Quinque shrapnel to take him down."

"Alright, hold position." Carla declared, taking her place in the middle of the room, behind an overturned table.

* * *

"DTT 500 meters, shall I begin to sprint?" Rico asked, since for the travel portion he was in autopilot.

"DTT?" Sheva asked, since the acronym was new to her.

"Distance To Target." Valentine answered from his perch on Rico's upper back as he locked himself to Rico's hull with his Magnokinesis. "Alright, I'm sticky, run for it and break down the wall."

"Sheva?" Rico asked, and she gave a sound of affirmation, so Rico started running to the target house. One of the closest civilian buildings to the Nightfall's shipyard, only a few kilometers away, but well within LA's city limits.

"Scanning structure, bypassing known structural augmentation... Armour panels are employing countermeasures, sir... Demagnetization and electrical grounding. I do detect a chink in their armour, upstairs bathroom. Shall we exploit that?" Rico put up the overlay for Sheva to see.

"No, Dad mentioned this trick to me; it's their exit, they're going to use it to escape by chopper, it'll blow a hole for them. They're most likely in the basement or the first floor." Valentine explained. "Rico, kick down the front door."

"On it." Rico replied, reaching over his shoulder to grab his Uppercut C66 and charged it up as he neared the building at full speed. "Brace for impact."

With a low shoulder, Rico charged straight into the wall, bringing rubble and armour plates exploding into the alarmed Syndicate personnel, shattering part of the upper floor as he pulled back and shoved his C66's large barrel into the crater he'd carved through the wall, firing two blasts before the soldiers inside could recover from his sudden arrival.

"Fuck 'em up, and take down their chopper when it arrives." Valentine repelled himself from Rico's hull and launched right through the hole, rolling on impact and brought his P90 to bear, the 5.7x28mm Q-bullets making quick work of their Kevlar vests. "I'm going after their leader!"

"You don't have to look far." A woman's voice spoke up from behind some hastily arranged - but completely useless - cover. "So come and get me, you magnetic freak!"

"Rico, she's mine. You handle the men." Valentine wasted no time in getting close to the woman, smacking her G36c aside with one hand, the other wrenching the knife on her shoulder out of the sheath, then he threw both aside as the woman immediately tried to pull out her sidearm, the USP.45 that he was expecting.

Since the gun was mostly polymer, he didn't have as much influence over it as he'd liked, but that didn't mean he was at her mercy either. With a grin he forced his Magnokinesis to swing the gun's metal barrel away from himself in a wide swing, and then again on the firing assembly, making this oddly familiar looking Asian woman shoot one of the remaining men in the back of the head before the gun was wrenched out of her hand by the same influence on the barrel and clattered far out of reach.

"Now then... You and I are going to have a little chat once Rico deals with your chopper. In the meantime, just remember you shot one of your own men in the back of the head without any sort of provocation... You freak." Valentine grabbed the woman by the vest she wore and lifted her up with one hand, surrounding them in a bubble of repelling magnetism to divert or catch the stray gunfire from the Syndicate men.

Rico and Sheva make quick work of the surviving men, and after Sheva personally climbed out and checked to make sure none were playing dead, both stood at the ready for the arrival of the chopper.

Meanwhile, Valentine had the woman pinned to the wall with several scrap pieces of metal from Rico's wall breach.

"Let's start simple... Name and rank, please." Valentine pulled up a slightly banged up chair and sat in front of the woman.

"Carla Wong, Lieutenant First Class." Carla replied tersely.

"By any chance, are you related to Ada Wong?" Valentine asked, still cradling his P90 in hand while he sat there.

"She's my sister. I already know she's among your ranks." Carla sneered.

"Next question: What was your assigned objective for this mission?" Valentine asked his next question without pause.

"Assassinate Sheva Alomar." Carla scowled. "Seeing as you brought along that huge tin can, I can safely assume she's inside, controlling the damn thing."

"I can hear you, Lieutenant..." Rico's voice came through the hole in the wall.

"Now, if she was your target, why would you try to assassinate her while I was present?" Valentine raised an eyebrow pointedly. "Seems somewhat suicidal, considering your equipment and forces, especially considering you didn't account for Rico's involvement."

"Rico? You mean the tin can?" Carla glared in the direction of the crater, where Rico's leg was slightly visible.

"Call me a tin can one more time, Lieutenant..."

"Rico, that won't be necessary." Valentine spoke warningly. "Just take down their helicopter when it arrives."

"Yes, sir." Rico replied, only for Sheva to disembark and Boost down to the ground, marching up to the crater, vaulting through until she was face to face with the captive woman.

"So this is the bitch in charge, huh?" Sheva spoke through her T-15's mask without opening it. "Huh, reminds me of what's-her-name... Ada. Y'know... Leon's wife."

"They're sisters, actually." Valentine replied. "But that doesn't really matter, considering that Ada was part of Dad's Syndicate, not Alex Wesker's mockery of it..."

"It is not a mockery! It's an improvement!" Carla barked out suddenly at the commentary.

"The real Syndicate is gone... has been for almost 19 years. Whatever bullshit that Wesker put into your head about it being brought back is probably wrong or likely false propaganda." Valentine glared at Carla, silencing her in an instant. "With that being said, you're officially considered a terrorist, not a bioterrorist, for leading an armed assault on BSAA property, as well as attempted murder. Rico's already called the proper authorities, and we have direct records, plus statements and of course, your own fingerprints on your weaponry, as evidence. Do svidaniya, Miss Wong, you dug your own grave by joining the Syndicate, but this attack... you walked in of your own damn accord."


	34. Chapter 34

"Good to see you up and running, big guy." Tobias and Rico shared a brief nod to each other as the police took statements from Valentine and Sheva, both of whom weren't being charged for defending themselves as active BSAA personnel. Although, not all of the LAPD officers seemed entirely comfortable with Rico's proximity to their SWAT trucks and squad cars.

"Greetings, sir. Sheva has named me Rico. Shall I address you as Captain?" Rico asked, since Tobias' BSAA profile indicated that he went by several names as well as his rank of Captain.

"Nah, you can call me Toby. You're one of us, after all." Tobias nodded with a smile at the mech's pechance for formality. He was aware that the AI core had a dynamic personality, and was slightly amused with their chat so far. "So what happened?"

"Armed assault on the Nightfall shipyard, sir. Attempted assassination of Sheva and possible attempted sabotage of the Nightfall itself. Shall I present my audio and visual combat logs?"

"Syndicate?" Tobias' eyes narrowed slightly.

"Yes, that is correct." Rico lowered himself into a crouch while opening his hatch to present Tobias his his holographic HUD that Sheva used, which was showcasing a replay of the initial attack. "By my calculations, the probability of their success with my known parameters of the event is approximately seven percent."

"And what about here?" Tobias indicated the damaged building nearby.

"We were able to isolate a signal to this location during the attack, and concluded that it was their base of operations. From this, we performed a counterattack and captured the commanding officer and four soldiers. All of whom are now in LAPD custody, awaiting interrogation by the FBI and Secret Service."

"Why the Secret Service?" Tobias asked, stroking his jaw thoughtfully.

"The Syndicate officer is one Carla Wong, sister to Mrs. Ada Kennedy, an associate of yours and a former comrade during the Raccoon City Incident." Rico stood up and closed his hatch as he spoke. "It is a logical conclusion to predict Mrs. Kennedy wishes to speak to her sister, personally as well as professionally."

"Alright, how about you? How're you holding up after this failed skirmish?" Tobias could see some minor damage on Rico's hull in some places, but otherwise concluded that the mech was fully functional.

"All damage inflicted to my hull was from assorted small arms and my initial breach of the wall. I am currently at ninety nine point eight five percent combat effectiveness, all vital movement and functionality are performing normally."

"Alright, good to hear. When Sheva and Val are finished with the police, bring them back to the shipyard so we can give the ship an official examination. I'll be waiting on the bridge."

"As you wish, Toby." Rico nodded as the silver-haired man turned towards his pickup truck to return to the base.

"Wait, was that Dad?" Sheva came jogging over after catching a glimpse of the black pickup truck leaving down the road, unlike their initial arrival across the open terrain between the shipyard and the sparse houses.

"Yes, Toby wanted a summary of these recent events. He wishes to conduct a damages evaluation to the Nightfall after the police permit you and Valentine to depart from the scene." Rico turned towards his Pilot as she reactivated her T-15 in preparation to climb into his cockpit.

"CCG are the ones talking to Val right now, they wanted to know if he ate anyone during the attack." Sheva shrugged slightly as she linked to the controls but did not engage manual mode. "This shouldn't be long... I know for a fact his teeth are clean today."

"Duely noted." Rico commented with the internal speakers, watching the Investigators talking to Valentine closely. Something seemed off, so he zoomed in and focused his audio sensors on the conversation.

"Any time I open my mouth, you guys come running. So why don't you get the point yet? I was dealing with them as a BSAA operative, with a gun, and have not eaten any flesh since seven thirty this morning. You should know this, I have a hunting pattern just like my older sisters."

"I'll choose to overlook your tone, Mr. Darkwood... I do however have to ask you to open your mouth so we can verify for ourselves when you last consumed human flesh." One of the three Investigators gestured for Valentine to comply with the order.

"Fingers don't taste all that great." Valentine narrowed his eyes, then noticed Rico's optical sensors were directed at him. "Rico, possible undercover Syndicate personnel." He commented in Russian, scowling at the CCG men to make it seem like he was just talking to himself.

"If you're trying to hide any flesh consumption, I will be inclined to use force on you, Mr. Darkwood." The largest of the three men, although not of Tobias' stature, shifted slightly as he spoke.

"Oh, that's cute. Big tough act against someone like me? Pathetic." Valentine scoffed slightly. "See that big motherfucker looking over at us? I built him. His name's Rico, and he's not just a walk'n'talk robot... He's a combat mech. He's also listening to us right now. So you have three seconds to start walking away before I permit him to shoot in my general vicinity with that lovely shotgun he's still holding."

"Your diplomatic immunity has no effect if you threaten us, Valentine..." The third Investigator spoke up, holding up his hands rather peacefully. "Please, it's a new protocol method that Central Command has us doing now. It's a visual inspection of your teeth and gums to look for residual blood or scraps of flesh in your teeth. And you're more than right to threaten these guys, they're new members of your family's task force. Got assigned to us a few days ago."

"Rico..." Valentine turned to the mech. "Grab the taller two."

With a curt "Yes, sir!" Rico boldly approached and grabbed the two men, one in each of his hands, leaving the shorter man that had spoken last untouched.

"I noticed you were watching, what gave it away that they're Syndicate moles?" Valentine asked as he hopped onto his hoverboard and rose to their height, already relinquishing them of their guns and CCG ID with his Magnokinesis.

"Aggressive body language, consistent formal use of 'Mr. Darkwood' to address you, sir, as well as their arrival occurring before the actual Investigator standing with you, who actually arrived after the LAPD themselves. I conclude that they were a backup team under Miss Carla Wong's command, likely for reconnaissance and recovery." Rico concluded his evaluation of the situation. "I also verify that they are carrying extra ammunition above the usual CCG protocol of three magazines."

"Hey, Lieutenant!" Valentine hailed one of the nearby police officers that was witnessing the scene. "Add these two with the rest of them, have them searched thoroughly and kept apart from each other in individual squad cars. I want to speak with them... _Personally_.. after I handle things on my end back at the shipyard. I'll leave this with you..." Valentine plucked one of his Heartseeker cards from his belt pouches and handed it to the cop. "Make sure not to lose it, it's how I'll get in contact with you after they're secured."

"What's so special about this card?" The officer was familiar with the Darkwood's, though not on first name terms with them.

"It's a secret." Valentine winked as the Syndicate men were handed to the officers below, all directing their guns at the men - who quickly surrendered and were promptly restrained - then he rose to sit right on top of Rico's shoulder, already magnetized to adhere to the hull. "Alright, Rico, RTB so we can get started on repairs for you and the ship."

"Sheva's driving." Rico reported as Sheva laughed inside the cockpit, already beginning to march back the way they'd first come from.

"I actually know that one!" Sheva smiled, since she'd heard RTB - Return To Base - used in a movie while she was still recovering from the shark attack. "It's Return To Base!"

* * *

"P-36 Mobile Landmines... I see." Tobias was crouched alongside one of the numerous doll-like prosthetic girls strewn all over the command deck of the Nightfall. Almost all of them were still set on standby, save for only one that was missing it's head... located several feet away with the large red detonator plate still in place. It was likely the last one that Valentine destroyed, since none of the other ones bore signs of damage save for precise gunshots to their central matrix assemblies in their chests, a testament to Valentine's engineering talents and skilled marksmanship.

Nearby was a device that Tobias didn't immediately recognize, so he stood up and approached it, noticing that it too had been shot by Valentine's P90.

A closer examination revealed it to be an electromagnetic jamming transmitter, and he let out a slow exhale through his nose as he stroked his lip with his thumb, his old cognitive tic he was known for.

"Rico's on his way up with the crane. I see you've found the jammer, Dad." Valentine spoke up as the doors to the command deck slid open ahead of his arrival. Right beside him was Sheva, her T-15 still deployed, but her mask was up on her forehead.

"I also found scraps of Dragonfly drones all over the deck, not to mention corpses, hull damage and a disturbing amount of 20mm shell casings..." Tobias turned his head to speak to his youngest children. "Rico told me you were the target, Sheva... but by the look of things, you two got the jump on them despite all their preparations beforehand."

"We didn't exactly get the jump on them... we just fought back." Sheva shrugged as Valentine sat in his Captain's chair with his tablet, already evaluating the hull damage and possible repair times.

"You did great, I'm proud of both of you. Not a scratch on _you_... and no blood in _your_ teeth." Tobias smiled at them in turn as he complimented them. "Rico's got some dings and dents, but he'll be fine. If anything, they're proof of your first real firefight together." He patted Sheva on the shoulder with a warm smile. "So how's the ship, Val?"

"8 hours worth of repairs, at the most." Val tapped out a few commands into his tablet. "But we're down the 23 workers I killed, they were the Syndicate's insiders. We're still way ahead of schedule, I can have her airborne as soon as we get all of the vital crew members aboard."

"Who's missing?" Tobias knew the tone in Valentine's voice very well... It was one that he himself used alongside a sadistic grin on many, many occasions.

"Koko and her team... the rest of our Family... Motoko, Stella, Sherry, Jake... Oh, and Rico's still being hauled back up to the deck with the crane. Can't forget the big guy, can we?" Valentine replied, looking up from his tablet with the very sadistic grin that Tobias was just thinking about plastered all over his face.


	35. Chapter 35

"Alright, let me get this straight..." Koko had her cellphone on speakerphone, her faithful crew gathered around the table that it was placed on. "You want us to be part of the crew for the ship I delivered those huge cannons for, right?"

"That's right, Koko. Your knowledge, expertise, and charisma, as well as Jormungand's capabilities, would be a powerful asset for the Nightfall." Valentine's voice came through the device. "And of course, everyone's skills and military training would be just as valuable. I've thought long and hard about every single member of my ship's crew, and I can't think of anyone better suited to joining by my side."

"Would we be considered BSAA personnel?" Lehm asked, chewing some gum.

"Yes, and paid accordingly for your services during active duty. And since the ship sails both in air and water, you don't need to stay here in LA, which would be the ship's home port."

"Something about your crew including an arms dealer and nine mercenaries has me thinking there's more to your ship than you're admitting." Koko commented with a smirk. "I don't need details, just a yes or a no."

"That would be a very precise _dah_!" Valentine laughed. "I have plenty of surprises about my ship that you will absolutely love to see."

"You've piqued my interest, Valentine, I won't deny that... But, at the moment, I have to withhold my final decision; we're in South Africa right now on business. Once this deal's done, I'll call you back, then I'll make my final decision, sound fair?"

"I understand, it's a big choice to make. If I may, what's the local time for your deal? It's about a nine hour time difference." Valentine asked.

"It's in about two hours. I take it it's evening for you?" Koko understood his reasoning for asking.

"Yeah, but it's Friday, so I don't mind staying up late tonight. Godspeed and good fortune for your deal, Koko." Valentine bade them goodbye, which they chorused in reply before Koko hung up.

* * *

Motoko, Jake, Sherry, Natasha, and the entire Darkwood family, as well as Kuro and Shiro were smirking as Valentine ended the call on his end, while Stella's cybernetic jaw contorted into her usual mockery of a smile as she spoke first.

"Now I want to know about some of those surprises on the ship, what'cha planning?"

"Now now, Stella, that ruins the whole point of a surprise!" Natasha chuckled slightly. "You'll have to wait and see them with the rest of us."

"Fun police." Stella stuck out her tongue jokingly. "So I dunno what everyone else is gonna do while we wait for Koko, I'm gonna steal some of Yuuki's leftovers from the bar."

"I'm saving those for my dinner! HEY!" Yuuki was hot on her heels in pursuit. "GET YOUR FABULOUS ASS BACK HERE, YOU LITTLE SHIT!"

" _BITE ME_!" Stella countered from the kitchen, which was followed by a thud of Titanium-Polymer alloy augmentations hitting the stainless steel fridge.

"Where and how hard?" Yuuki clearly had Stella pinned, but her sultry taunt was audible for everyone in the living room.

"Please don't bite my wife... She takes after you, after all." Motoko rolled her eyes as she moved into the kitchen to defuse the heated exchange - whether it was heated by anger or passion was an open debate - while Rachael followed with her own unseeable six-eye roll.

"Hey, Val, once those two pry them apart, why don't we do a Family stream? Haven't done one with you yet." Rize could tell that Valentine was thinking hard about the possibility of Koko saying she couldn't join the Nightfall's crew.

"How many of us are here?" Val did a quick headcount, coming up with 17, which included Odin, Kuro and Shiro. "Seventeen, hmmm..."

"We'll let the stream chat decide on what we're doing, same as we always do." Odin commented from his seat beside Tobias, who was in the family's notorious armchair.

"Last time we played Cards Against Humanity." Tobias chuckled, idly tapping his left hand's ring finger against his coffee cup, clinking his Titanium wedding ring against the side. "Some of those damn cards made me question too many things about the world and humour."

"It's kinda the point of the game." Sherry chuckled. "So what do you think, Val? Want to join us for the stream while we wait for Koko?"

"Alright, alright, I'll do it." He sighed as Yuuki and Rachael returned with Motoko and Stella, all four of them clearly pleased by their sneaky make out in the kitchen to appease the fire that had risen up between Yuuki and Stella.

"Alright, we'll fire it up, you guys grab drinks and whatever you're gonna need. Give us five minutes and we'll get the chat to make up their mind for what they want us to do." Yuuki and Rachael whisked away to get their cameras and computers prepared, leaving Odin chuckling slightly.

"Something tells me this is going to be a fun one."

* * *

"Thank you very much, Miss Heckmatyar, you're a lifesaver!" Her client for the deal shook her hand firmly. "If I may, I've heard through associates that you sometimes have extra cargo. They've told me that you'd add the cargo to your delivery for an added fee."

"Oh? What do you have in mind?" Koko was more than pleased by the request to expand the order of small arms and accommodating munitions. "I admit, yes, I do have extra available."

"I was wondering if you had this weapon I've been hearing rumours about, something called a T-103 Tyrant? I've heard it's a powerful artillery asset on the available market..."

Koko felt a bead of sweat forming on her forehead at the name of the weapon. "I'm sorry, could I have a moment to confirm that with my team?"

"Of course, I'll be waiting right here." He nodded with a small smile as Koko turned back to speak quietly to Lehm and Wiley.

"I need you two to do some brain work. One of you search for our contact's details, the other run a search for the nearest BSAA base... He's asking to buy a B.O.W, thinking it's a piece of artillery... and I have to make him think he's in the clear with me. I sell bullets, not syringes."

"You do know we could arrest him if you accept Valentine's offer for the ship... He did say we'd be officially BSAA personnel." Lehm smirked slightly.

"Nearest BSAA base can send a team directly here in twenty five minutes, boss." Wiley replied. "They're asking for details, should I tell them?"

"Tell them that." Koko nodded, then added. "And tell them we're part of the North American Division of the BSAA if they ask who we are." Koko made up her mind, finally, and nodded to them to show she meant that she'd accepted Valentine's offer to join the Nightfall's crew.

Returning to her client, she gently clasped her hands together and kept her signature smile firmly in place. "Unfortunately I don't have T-103's for sale. Might I ask whom gave the recommendation to you for purchasing one?"

"A young gentleman by the name of Zenith Wesker, I believe he's from Germany."

Koko felt a chill go up her spine at that surname. "Thank you, now if you'll excuse me, I have a tight schedule to keep." She offered her hand one last time, and he shook it as warmly as before.

"Safe travels, Miss Heckmatyar."

With that, she returned to her loyal team of bodyguards, speaking in a low voice that barely moved her lips. "Syndicate's involved, and I think he slipped up by telling me that name."

"So where to next, Koko?" Jonah asked, able to see the stress through the chinks in her smile's mask.

"Tojo, are the girls streaming right now?"

Tojo tapped at his phone for several seconds, bringing up the Spiderweb's main page. "I'll need a stronger signal if we want it to play smoothly, but yeah, they're about an hour and a half into a full family broadcast, they're playing Titanfall 2."

"Including Valentine?" Koko asked, raising her eyebrows curiously.

"He's in the game, yeah. Keeps buffering so I can't tell you much more until we get back to the hotel and I can use my laptop." Tojo replied as he shut the device down. "I actually have the game, y'know."

* * *

"Imagine that... Dad's fuckin' using Legion and Mom's rocking Scorch." Yuuki threw up her hands jokingly, watching her parents deploying their Titans beside hers, since they were all playing Titanfall 2 with fans.

"Says the one using Tone." Rachael nudged her sister with a smirk, while she herself had Ronin. Nearby on the floor, Sheva and Valentine - using the twins' respective laptops - were using Ion and Northstar respectively.

"Because Tone is bae! Ronin's for scrubs that can't aim!"

"Yet Tone has auto-aim on her gun and her missiles!" Rize chipped in as the match began, a game of Last Titan Standing, the six of them versus six fans. "And your father and I both know how to counter Tone, so imagine if we cornered you together."

"How do you counter her?" Yuuki challenged cockily.

"With Legion? Get up in her face, use the short range Power Shot to get her away from her Particle Wall, deploy Gun Shield, then unload the gun into her to build up for Smart Core and finish her off with the Core's infinite ammo." Rize explained, already taking the lead to lock down the chokepoint at the center of the map with Scorch's gas canister traps. "For Scorch, you keep her away from the Wall by lighting the ground near it with a single gas trap and a shot from Scorch's gun, and then cut off her escape with Firewall, then corner her between the flames with the second gas trap, forcing her to engage you up close, during which you use Flame Shield to block her shots while also lighting her on fire. If Flame Core is ready by then, finish her off with that or an Execution if she's down to Critical."

"Enemy team has two Legions and a Scorch." Sheva reported over the clicks and tapping keys. "No Ronin that I can see..."

"Mom, Dad, keep the chokepoint busy. Val, Ray, go for the left lane. Sheva, come with me to the other one." Yuuki already knew that her parents, in the two Ogre class titans, could hold the center of the map with relative ease, and they both were using Turbo Engines on their Titans, so they could easily disengage if they were overrun.

"I see two Northstars in this lane, they're trying to flank you, Dad." Valentine reported as he charged his railgun to fire at one while Rachael charged in to counter-flank the two Strider class mechs that were busy trying to line up a shot of their own on their father's obnoxiously bright pink Titan keeping their team at bay from breaching past the literal supporting fire from their mother's bright green Scorch. Both had the chokepoint under complete control.

"Found their Ronin!" Yuuki turned a corner to be greeted by an Arc Wave from the sneaky sword-wielding mech. "Sheva, get one of your traps behind him while I distract him. I think he's also using a Nuke Core, so keep back a bit."

Isolating the single mech was relatively easy, and in moments their combined firepower Doomed the Titan, and they knew right away Yuuki's prediction was correct when the Ronin Phased out of sight and didn't set off Sheva's Laser Tripwire trap.

" _NUKE_!" Yuuki and Sheva immediately retreated as the Ronin was already halfway through the eject animation when it re-Phased in front of Yuuki's Particle Wall. It detonated, damaging them both a bit, but neither were Critical as they continued back towards the enemy team's vulnerable right lane.

"Northstar down!" Val and Rachael, on the other flank, were powering their way towards the last Northstar, who was using cover and peeking out to fire at them as they advanced. "Rachael, it's baiting you! Legion on the right!"

"I got this, snipe the Legion in the legs, he's popped his shield!" Rachael smirked as she Phase Shifted past the Northstar and got it down to Critical with her Ronin's normal sword strikes, promptly Executing it as the Legion turned towards her and began firing from behind the Gun Shield, only for Valentine to fire a fully charged shot from his railgun and removed the whole shield instead of going for the direct damage to the exposed legs.

"Scorch on my end, Dad, Mom, can you two assist after you deal with that last Legion?" Yuuki reported, noticing that the Scorch was aiming too high for direct shots at her Particle Wall. They knew how to counter Tone... "Fuck fuck fuck! Sheva, he's got me beat, back up!"

"Legion down, on my way." Rize smirked, Executing the first Legion as Tobias moved to flank the other Legion while she went the other way to assist them.

"Rachael, use your Core, I just got mine." Valentine reported as he unleashed his Flight Core to bombard the Legion with missiles from the side while Rachael rushed in with her Sword Core ready, decimating the unshielded Legion in seconds. "Sheva, Laser Core the Scorch!"

With a gleam in her eye, Sheva unleashed Ion's Laser Core on the final Titan, briefly hearing Rico's voice in her head, saying _"Laser Core engaged!"_ as the Scorch was quick to defend with Flame Shield while moving out of her line of fire for some cover, only to suddenly light Rize's nearby gas canister under his feet with the Shield.

"SALVO CORE, BITCHES!" Yuuki grinned in triumph as she let her own Core loose just as her father dashed into view and deployed his own Smart Core to melt the Scorch's remaining health so fast that it didn't even get a chance to deploy it's Nuclear Core as a final attempt to eliminate their close range positions. "GET FUCKED!"

Victorious in their match, Yuuki glanced at everyone gathered around them in the living room, realizing that they'd been laughing and cheering during the match on the other side of her headphones, hanging them on her neck as she checked the livestream's chat and went red from embarrassment at Koko's cheeky comment, "I would hate to see the price tag of that many missiles, Yuuki."

"Hi Koko!" Rachael laughed at Yuuki's red face, and that instantly made Valentine look up. "What's up lady?"

"I just so happen to have access to the game, care to play a Colesium match with me, Valentine?" Koko, despite her limited appearances in the streams, was a Widow, and all of her crew had their own normal accounts as well.

Everyone turned to see Valentine's surprised expression, then he smirked and nodded his head once. "Bring it on, Koko."

A few moments later, the stream was focused entirely on Valentine's screen as he and Koko loaded into the flat circular area as Pilots, each armed for the duel with shotguns, ironically. Likewise, Koko had called Valentine's phone directly so she could talk to him during the multi-round match while she played on Tojo's laptop, surrounded by her crew.

"So, I've decided to accept your offer, Valentine. I'm sure the rest of my guys would be more than pleased to join me by your side too." Koko was surprisingly skilled at the game, her voice utterly relaxed as they traded alternately winning and losing until they both had two victories each, leaving the final match to decide the victor. "My my, that Mastiff of yours is brutal. Shall we go for a pistol duel to finish the match?"

"Which pistol do you have?" Valentine, likewise at ease, was already grinning at his chosen Boost, the Smart Pistol, that was ready to use immediately.

"Wingman. You?"

"Wingman as well."

"Shall we? Just turn around and wait for the final ten seconds before we turn and fire. Sound good?" Koko smirked at Tojo's nearby phone showing Valentine's screen, including his little trick with his Smart Pistol Boost. Thankfully she had the A-Wall Pilot, so she could protect herself from the auto-aiming sidearm when he fired it at her.

As the timer ticked down, Val spotted Tojo's name in the viewer list on Yuuki's nearby monitor, but none of the other crew members seemed to be signed in... and he knew she was using Tojo's laptop to play...

She knew.

"Cute maneuver, Koko... Using Tojo's phone to spy on my screen like that." Valentine waited until the ten second warning popped up as he launched his Grapple at Koko and dragged her towards him, deploying his Smart Pistol Boost as he slid away and spun around to lock on to her Pilot, firing as soon as it was locked. "A-Wall to block the Smart Pistol and oneshot me with the Wingman when I got close to flank it?"

"That was my plan! Ha ha ha!" Koko applauded along with their respective groups. "You saw the viewer list on another computer, didn't you?"

"Yuuki's." Valentine smiled. "Well, I'll see you soon for the launch of the Nightfall... Unless you want to go for another match, that is..." His smile turned into a cocky smirk as she chuckled.

"No tricks this time... and no Smart Pistols. Deal?" Koko teased as they started a fresh match.

"Deal."


	36. Chapter 36

"I was wondering what you did with that MMS I gave you... And now I know." Tobias chuckled at the new weapon that Valentine was presenting him for testing. "The fact we played Titanfall 2 on Friday is purely coincidental, obviously."

"It inspired the Boost Pack, and Rico, and now this. It came from the Smart Pistol, of course. I also decided to call it the Auto-Wing, for references and all that." Valentine smirked as he watched his father load the intelligently designed, but fairly large sidearm with the special micro missiles from the MMS, now equipped with a miniature guidance system. The gun also linked with the wielder's T-15 to display the smart-round's intended flight path and target. Plus, as an added bonus, the smart-rounds were loaded with a warhead that was based on his father's Ragnarok Rounds, an armour piercing dart inside of a fragmenting Quinque Steel explosive shell.

"Here's hoping it's not like the Arm Launcher." Tobias nodded as he deployed his personal T-15 and engaged his skull-helmet's HUD to target the wildly scattered targets on the outdoor firing range. "Firing!"

With exactly enough targets to rounds, Tobias didn't need to worry about anything as he clicked off the safety, causing a slew of trajectory beams to lock-on to each target in his HUD, and then he fired the full-auto gun's entire mag without adjusting his aim - at the centermost target - as they all blew backwards when the smart-rounds hit them.

"The gun's size and weight help with the recoil, for sure. Mag size of 15 rounds is respectable, ergonomically feels good in the hand, but those fucking beams in the HUD... They're... not exactly bright, it's just that they're so thick? wide?" Tobias retracted his mask from his face and unloaded the empty magazine from the gun. "After we finish this primary test, you'll need to narrow them by at least half their current width. Maybe even two thirds."

"How about we run a CQC mockup? Test the accuracy and missile maneuverability?" Valentine nodded at the relatively simple coding adjustment.

"We'll also need to add variables, like moving objects and non-hostile targets." Tobias nodded. "Now, the gun can be set for semi-auto, right?"

"Same as any firing selector, just click it to semi and fire it accordingly." Valentine nodded. "Let's head over to the mockup and get things set up for a full training run."

"So tell me about this gun... What were you intending it for? Sheva and Rico, or as a specialty sidearm for active duty?" Tobias asked as they collected the ammo crate of smart-rounds and walked across the outdoor training facility's yard to the indoor scenario mockup, just like police and army training mockups.

"Both, believe it or not. Especially since it's auto-aiming, it works for crowded or hostage situations. One thing I don't know about it is if you're immune to it. I mean, it's basically an exploding Ragnarok round that can curve in midair... But it's not like a normal bullet."

"I see your point, and I would think that it's worth a couple shots to confirm anyway. Not like it'll kill me, will it?"

"Nope, even with the Quinque shrapnel, it couldn't kill _you_... if you're not immune to it, obviously." Valentine smiled. What kid his age could genuinely talk about shooting their father with live ammunition like this?

* * *

"So school starts next week, we're headed out to talk business with the faculty. Hopefully they get the big picture instead of getting hung up on details." Yuuki and Rachael spoke through their bike helmets' open visors to their parents as they shrugged on their shoulder holsters and biker jackets.

"I got the paperwork, you good?" Rachael checked her shoulder bag for the CCG, BSAA and US government documents they needed as material proof.

"You two should also use this visit to the college to find your classes." Rize reminded them as she looked up from her book.

"Way ahead of you!" Rachael gave a cheery little salute as the slid their visors into place and slid their fingers under the helmets to turn on the intercoms as they left.

When they arrived at the college, they wasted no time in hiding their gun holsters or their knives as they marched right up to the front help desk and spoke to the secretary seated there.

"Hello ladies, how may I be of assistance?"

"We'd like to speak to the dean, could you point us to their office?" Rachael asked, since both of them had their sunglasses on and their upper eyes closed while they carried their helmets in their hands.

"Might I ask the purpose of this meeting?" The secretary asked, producing a map of the school.

"It's... complicated." Yuuki shrugged slightly.

"She means it's a bit of a big thing, too much to go over." Rachael explained as they leaned over the desk to see the map.

"Well, we're right here. You want to head into the administration wing over here, her office is on the second floor, there's another secretary there that'll help you out from there."

"Thank you kindly." The twins followed her finger's route and understood where to go. "Let's go!"

Walking through the halls, they mentally mapped the route for their way back, and soon found themselves standing in front of the aforementioned secretary.

"Greetings ladies, may I ask who you're here to speak with?" He queried with a small smile.

"The dean, please. Is she available or do we need an appointment?" Rachael asked.

"She's just meeting with another student at the moment, shouldn't be much longer."

As he said that, the nearby office door opened, revealing the suited woman and an incredibly attractive guy around their own age.

"Thanks for the assistance, Dean Kali." The guy shook her hand, his voice German accented, before leaving down the corridor that the twins just came from, going into the stairwell and out of sight.

"Ladies, I take it you're here to see me?" Mrs. Kali asked, and they both nodded, following her invitation to enter her office and take a seat in the two chairs in front of her desk. "As you heard, I am Dean Kali. And yourselves?"

"I'm Rachael, this is Yuuki. We're the Darkwood twins." They both removed their sunglasses to reveal their eyes. "There are certain matters we'd like to go over with you before the beginning of the semester."

"Alright, where do we begin?" Dean Kali asked, clasping her hands together and placing them on the surface of her desk.

"Well... let's start with this: Have you ever heard our surname before?" Yuuki asked, raising an eyebrow as she pinched the stem of her shades between the tips of her fangs.

"No, I haven't." Dean Kali took a moment to recall ever hearing it, and couldn't recall ever hearing it before today.

"Well, that makes things a bit easier. We're not human, in case our hair, eyes and fangs didn't give that away." Rachael explained, both of them opening their upper eyes and blinking them in sequence of each other. "We're T-Ghouls. Our parents, Tobias and Rize Darkwood, are bioweapons created by the Umbrella Corporation about 20 years ago, and our dad was the one that took them down during the Raccoon City Incident."

"I follow so far... and I do recall those events on the news. I'll withhold any questions until the end. Continue." Dean Kali nodded for them to continue, at which Rachael produced the paperwork from her bag.

"So, now that there's some context, these documents provide further details for this next part." Rachael handed them over.

"We've got certain... traits that need to be... discussed." Yuuki indicated her twin with one hand. "First and foremost being the T- and C-Virus' in our DNA."

"Okay, I'm listening." Dean Kali withheld reading the small stack of paperwork for the moment.

"The Virus' have certain effects on our minds and bodies, namely heightened aggression and physical capabilities, respectively." Yuuki began. "But, there are also... complex things from each one as well."

"Such as?"

"The T-Virus gives us both a set of... 'superpowers' known as Hydrokinesis. In layman's terms, we both control water at will." Rachael explained. "In addition to some other powers when we're in the water itself, we have a few controllable physical ones, such as these claws..." She held up one hand while extending her claws. "Or those scales my sister's using. We call that Scale Mail. They're highly durable armour for us. We also have a special organ in our lower backs called a Kagune, which all Ghouls possess, not just us T-Ghouls."

"Aside from your... Kagune, those are all from the T-Virus, yes?" Dean Kali confirmed the detail. "And from the C-Virus?"

"There's just two: First one is a 'passive' sort of trait." Yuuki explained. "First, some context: all Ghouls have a very strictly limited diet, which is human flesh, coffee and water. Eating anything else is forcibly rejected by their bodies, and cannot be digested without causing severe stomach illness. It's due to an enzyme produced in their bodies. The C-Virus neutralizes that enzyme in our bodies, thus removing the restriction and lets us gain sustenance from 'human' or 'normal' foods, such as fruits, veggies, all that stuff."

"So it's useful, for sure. And the other trait?" Dean Kali raised an eyebrow curiously.

"It gives our Kagune an upgraded secondary form, which is called a Kakuja. Normal Ghouls can have them too, ours is much more... in-depth and powerful. In fact, it's actually only a half-Kakuja in terms of development." Rachael pointed at the documents. "The second and third pages of those papers are photographs of our Kakuja when in use. Be warned, it resembles a spider's body, so if you're arachnophobia, it might be a bit of a shock."

"Your warning leads me to think it is large in stature." Dean Kali glanced at the documents, and they both nodded at her comment. "Now that we've discussed the Viruses, continue forth, please."

"So, since we're bioweapons, we have unfortunately made certain enemies, alongside a sort of stigma. Which is why we have these." They both revealed their Colts with one hand, the other producing their respective knifes. "We have papers from the US government to allow open carry of a single blade and a single sidearm without restriction or police involvement, which, also, they are aware of and know that us being armed is permitted."

"I presume those handguns aren't your only guns that you own? I will admit I am not much for them myself, but I do understand the necessity to defend oneself."

"Again, the papers also include pictures of our other guns and additional knives." Yuuki slid her kukri knife back into the sheath on her belt, reaching into her cleavage to produce her butterfly knife. "I'll admit, I exploit a loophole in the papers with this sucker... They permit openly carrying one sidearm and one knife. I conceal carry this butterfly knife, which is still within my proper legal rights under California law."

"Of course. Now, I presume there is more topics? I will admit, the open carry does concern me personally, but since you have provided legal documents as proof, I cannot deny you this right to carry your weapons."

"We're also internet celebrities, separate from our family's biology fame." Yuuki nodded as she tucked the knife back into her cleavage. "Our fanbase in the city knows to respect our surroundings when meeting us, such as school, a library or when we're at work. That being said, sometimes a fan, new or old, gets a bit excited to see us in person, so even we can't control what happens. That includes people attending events we're involved in, so be aware of that when there's a bigger crowd than usual."

"On that note, I must ask what makes you internet famous." Dean Kali raised both eyebrows.

"Our family has a reality show, Darkwood, which airs on Monday's. We have a website, The Spider Web, that we use at our own pace, connecting with our fans through our interests such as music, video games and gossip." Rachael explained. "Our site does include a general summary of everything we've discussed so far, and we generally answer any questions that people ask in our live broadcasts."

"And in regards to your education, will that be of any concerns?"

"We know better than to breach a person's privacy with our cameras." Rachael explained. "If we want to record a video or broadcast live, we have a rule that we ask for everyone's consent before starting. Anyone saying no for any reason stops us completely. We live with camera crews for Darkwood in our house six days a week, so we know better."

"Do you have a sort of camera with you right now?"

"We have a pair of flying camera drones that we connect to our phones." Rachael produced her folded down drone from inside her jacket. "Like I said, we ask first."

"So, last thing from us." Yuuki held up one hand. "We're also considered unofficial BSAA personnel, so sometimes we need to handle active duty. What I mean by this is that sometimes we'll get picked up by our comrades by land or by air, such as helicopters... or the Nightfall."

"The Nightfall?" Dean Kali queried, curious.

"Our little brother is an engineer for the BSAA, and he's finishing up a ship called the Nightfall as we speak." Rachael explained. "The Nightfall is a flying battleship... that can also sail in the ocean. So, if it flies over the school, that's what it's here for... Picking us up."

"Now, you must have a multitude of questions for us, so now that we've done our bit, it's your turn." Yuuki smiled, biting her glasses between the tips of her fangs again with a smirk.

"Well, first and foremost, are you two willing to negotiate the open carry down to concealed carry like your second knife, Miss Yuuki? I ask for the sake of other students that might attempt to take advantage of the hypothetical access to your firearms to cause harm to others, or to target you for unwarranted disciplinary action." Dean Kali nodded towards Yuuki's generous cleavage, where the hidden blade was expressly revealed to reside.

"That's more than fair. We accept without issue." Yuuki nodded, as did Rachael. "I will admit that our other sidearms are larger in size than these two, particularly mine."

"As long as you keep it concealed, and it still falls within your existing weapon restriction in the paperwork, then I don't care which handguns you bring onto the campus." Dean Kali nodded once. "Now, you mentioned aggression at the beginning, could you elaborate on that?"

"Well... It might seem surprising at first glance, but sometimes the T-Virus in us becomes agitated at the most minor of provocation, which unfortunately affects our entire family, not just us." Rachael detailed with a small smile. "When agitated, it makes us overreact to whatever provoked us. Thankfully we've learned over the years to at least get a handle on this hyper aggression. But that doesn't mean we're able to completely control it, let alone suppress it every time that the Virus is agitated."

"Does it affect you as a pair simultaneously, or is it individual to all members of your family?"

"Individually." Yuuki nodded once. "So whenever we lose control and lash out at someone, we at least try to defuse each other if it's just one of us. Sadly if we're both set off at the same time, our enhanced physical capabilities prevent a normal person from restraining us or using force to subdue us. Because not only are we stronger and more durable than normal Ghouls or humans, we constantly regenerate injuries we receive. I can prove it to you with a knife, if you want."

"I trust your claim. So you admit that you have a reasonable grasp on your aggression individually, but if both of you are angered together, what would the appropriate course of action be that calms you two down and minimizes harm to others?"

"Honestly, let us lose steam on our own. Don't get us wrong, it's not like we throw a temper tantrum like a little kid, we're more like... being in a very bad mood and getting pissed off at the person or thing that we 'perceive' to be provoking us. An example would be if someone insults us, we get mouthy and generally yell at the person. If we're agitated by an object instead of a person, we sometimes break it out of frustration. The fact we've got superhuman strength doesn't help in that regard, sadly."

"Superhuman strength?" Dean Kali glanced up and down both of them. Sure, they were both six foot three, visibly muscled and well toned, definitely on the 'bigger' side, but not overweight by any means. Thick, was the word.

"We don't have exact numbers, but for reference we can easily lift an average car over our heads and still walk at a reasonably long stride. By ourself, I should add."

"So over a thousand pounds, we'll say?"

"Yeah, easily a thousand pounds." Rachael nodded at Yuuki's example. "Our motorbikes weigh about 400 pounds, we can carry them both over our shoulder, at the same time."

"Now, one last thing from me, then you're free to go. You mentioned that you've made enemies. Could you elaborate on that?"

"Unfortunately, we're not allowed to reveal everything about that." Rachael sighed slightly. "What we can say is that we're trained by the BSAA and taught by our parents in how to handle any appearances from those enemies. Not just for combat, but in a large number of scenarios, which also includes basic psychological warfare."

"Psychological warfare?" Dean Kali was genuinely confused.

"See our eyes? Solid, glowing and impossible to guess where we're ever looking. Great advantage for when we have three pairs each, so we can pick up on details that the average person might miss. Namely your lie about not hearing our surname before, and the structure of some of your questions." Yuuki smirked. "So who was that German hottie that you were speaking to before us? Someone from the Syndicate, for sure."

"Admittedly, yes, I was approached by such a group today... but that young man wasn't them. The Syndicate wanted me to provide them with your academic files we have, but I refused. The fact we're meeting on the same day is an honest coincidence."

"Well, since they approached you like that, those guys are the enemies we were talking about. They're lead by a woman named Alex Wesker, and she has a personal vendetta against our family. Although we're allowed to talk about it, it's a long story and we've already had a long meeting as it is." Rachael smiled slightly. "If they every come back to you, could you contact our father, or us, as soon as you possibly can? They're going to come back, it's just when and why that's unknown."

"I can do that, thank you for the warning. And I presume they also enact armed attacks on you as well?" Dean Kali stood up, and the girls did so as well, shaking her hand in turn.

"They haven't done it yet... but they are more than capable of it, at any time." Yuuki nodded. "Thank you for the meeting, and we won't forget to conceal our weapons on campus. Have a good day, ma'am."

With simultaneous bows, they both turned to leave, pointedly zipping up their jackets part way, so that their holsters were concealed. When they returned to their bikes, they shared a glance, smirking.

"I actually like her, she's so chill." Yuuki nodded in approval.

"I think that guy she met before us was super hot... Oh fuck, he's over there!" Rachael blushed vividly as she pointed across the parking lot to find the German guy approaching an old school Triumph motorcycle with a white gas tank.

"Hey, as long as you don't go completely straight for him, he's all yours." Yuuki teased. "But if I lose my Onee-chan, he's gonna get a serious ass kicking, right after I beat the twincest back into your dumb fucking ass!"


	37. Chapter 37

"See boss?" Yuuki smirked at the results of the latest fight at the bar, which concluded with her effortlessly ending the conflict with the two men. "No bat, no problem."

"I do have a couple guys that work the other shift, y'know, my dear. Humans." He laughed at the good natured teasing about Old Faithful under the bar. "And we humans still use Old Faithful when things get out of hand like that."

"I'm agnostic. Faith doesn't concern me." Yuuki winked cheekily as she hefted the unconscious men over her shoulders and hauled them outside. She came back in with the same cheeky smirk as she continued. "I only believe in Lady Luck, after all."

"Hey, don't bring your rifle into this!" Rachael's voice called from the kitchen, coming out a moment later with the bin for dishes to collect from the tables and bar. "The sarcastic bitch has a bayonet, so she wouldn't even need the bat to begin with!"

"I'm missing the joke here." Their boss chuckled as several nearby customers laughed at their commentary, clearly aware of this joke about the so called rifle.

"One of our website fans wrote a sex story of my sniper rifle and me. We liked it so much that we made it her official character design." Yuuki explained, noticing the knowing smiles on some of the customers' faces. "Yeah, yeah, you guys know that story. Anyone feel like sharing it to the boss man?"

Laughter broke out as they all shook their heads.

"And what type of rifle is... she?" He asked, somewhat hesitantly, since he was not interested in reading the - infamous - sex story from almost three years earlier. As much as they had their fun, he still kept things professional between himself and the twins.

"Lucky Lady? She's a Mosin Nagant Model 91/30. Bolt action, customized by my dad as a gift to me for my good marks at the end of 10th grade." Yuuki grinned. "Her character design... well... let's just keep it at a simple 'Sexy as fuck, Sarcastic as hell' so we can get back to work, alright?" Yuuki laughed along with her nearby fans.

At that moment, a group of guys came into the bar, all laughing at some sort of joke from outside, drawing the gazes of the twins for a moment, only to realize that the German guy that Rachael had a crush on was among them, causing her face to go very red.

"Uh, hi there." Rachael stammered, which turned Yuuki's expression into a smug smirk just waiting to unleash a torrent of teasing.

"Yo!" Most of the guys replied to the greeting, sitting at the bar, including her crush, still not saying a word. "Could we start with a round of Budweiser?"

"You boys all ready for school to start?" Yuuki handled providing the bottles of beer with fluid efficiency.

"We just moved into our dorms, figured we should grab a drink and get to know each other since we're gonna be living with each other." One of the guys smiled at her. "Those are some sweet contacts, where'd you two get them?"

"I'm not wearing contacts." Yuuki chuckled. "These are my actual eyes."

"Wait, no way." The guys gawked at her and Rachael. "How?"

"Want the short version?" Yuuki asked, watching Rachael collecting the dishes nearby, staying silent since her crush was casually watching her out of the corner of his eye.

"How short is it?" He asked cheekily, earning smirks from a few of the guys, including the German guy.

"'We're not human.'" Yuuki replied with a smile. "That short."

"T-Ghouls." The German guy suddenly spoke up.

"Wait, you mean the Darkwoods? My sister watches the show every week, only reason I know about it is because I work on monday evenings and it's on when I get home."

"That's us." Yuuki grinned. "We're still people after all. So enjoy the view boys..." Yuuki jokingly puffed up her already prominent chest, since she and Rachael were both wearing their signature corsets with their nametags clipped on one side. "And the drinks, just don't start a fight because I'll kick your ass... and then kick you out of the bar afterwards."

"So wait, which twin are you?" Another guy asked, glancing between the two sisters as Rachael collected a couple of glasses from the far end of the bar.

"I'm Yuuki, the oldest out of all our siblings. This is Rachael." Yuuki gestured to her twin, who had just looked up and her eyes met with the German guy's in an instant, which made her blush again as she spun around to return the dishes to the kitchen. "Kawaii." She added under her breath as she chuckled to herself at Rachael's embarrassment.

"She okay? Her face keeps going red." Another guy of the four asked curiously, sipping his beer.

"She's being so cute right now I'm not sure if I should tell you... Might piss her off, y'know?" Yuuki cleaned the inner part of the bar with a cloth as she spoke.

"Cute?" The guys exchanged amused smirks. "So she's not normally like this?"

"Like I said, not sure if I should say it..." Yuuki was genuinely struggling to keep the teasing to herself.

"She has a crush on one of us, doesn't she?" The German spoke up, watching as Rachael returned from the kitchen to return to the bar by Yuuki's side, halting in her tracks as he spoke.

For a few seconds, neither twin moved; Yuuki was watching with silently smug amusement and Rachael's heart was hammering in her ears before she stiffly nodded her head, biting her lower lip nervously.

"Gonna say who it is?" Yuuki asked teasingly, to which Rachael vehemently shook her head, so Yuuki chuckled for a moment before her eyes transitioned to her Kakugan and she directed her full attention on the German. "So what's your name hot stuff? It's you she's got the crush on."

" _YUUKI_!" Rachael's face immediately matched her eyes as she gawked at her sister's not entirely unexpected shift in tactics.

"Zenith." He smiled at her, unconcerned by his roommates exclamations and laughter. "Ignore them and their antics. I assure you, I am not nearly as immature."

* * *

Rachael was still blushing when Zenith and his roommates bade them farewell - Zenith giving her a small, clearly precious smile from behind the other guys - leaving her with a chill at the back of her neck. After a moment she realized that it was Yuuki's finger tracing a line of her tattoo webbing as she draped her arm over her twin's shoulder and already had that cheeky smirk firmly in place.

"You were so adorable, I almost had a cuteness heart attack watching you blubbering and blushing like that."

"But he's so fucking hot, why weren't you drooling over him too?" Rachael looked away from her twin's smug expression, even though it didn't matter since not even they could see where the other's eyes were directed without forming their Kakugan. Their father's left eye - the Tyrant Eye, as it was still called - was the original source of that trait, of course. His right eye was a normal human icy blue, but also glowed just as much as his Tyrant Eye did.

"Stella's ass, Jake's abs, Sherry's legs, Motoko's futa body and her tits in both bodies, our yuri twincest... Do I need to keep going?" Yuuki teased her, speaking in Japanese in a low voice before switching back to English. "Like I said on Tuesday when we saw him, he's all yours. Just don't go completely heterosexual on me, or I'm gonna beat the twincest back into you, whether you still like him or not."

"But... I..." Rachael hesitated. "I can't think clearly when I'm around him."

"Then you need to relax, he's clearly not oblivious to your crush on him anymore, so give him some time to think it over. If he likes you back, he'll come find you without his obnoxious roommates making things difficult for both of you."

"Are you sure that'll work?" Rachael may have had most of Yuuki's memories when she was cloned by Wesker aboard the Der Reichstag during the Carrier Incident, but they were like she was watching from over Yuuki's shoulder, only vaguely sensing her thoughts and feelings in them. Much like being by her side like a twin sister. Unfortunately, some of Yuuki's life experiences were developed internally, over time. That meant Rachael herself didn't know _everything_ that Yuuki did, which included Yuuki's first crush in elementary school before meeting Sherry and immediately falling for each other.

"Ask Jake how a guy would handle the same situation. Or ask Dad and Uncle Kaneki. I would say Val too, but him and Sheva kinda... y'know..." Yuuki smiled sheepishly at her little brother's relationship forming so fast, but stayed completely strong.

"What about you? What would you do if you were the one crushing on him?"

"I'd let him decide how to proceed after I at least admitted my feelings towards him... Which is what I'm telling you to do. Just hang tight for now, if he comes back, the ball's in his court." Yuuki patted her twin on the shoulder, giving her a quick hug. "You know me. I have a fucking harem, I don't do adorable little crushes anymore. That doesn't mean I don't know how to handle them."

"Big sis Yuuki." Rachael chuckled as she returned the hug.

"That's right... Onee-chan."


	38. Chapter 38

"I get the feeling you're making fun of me right now." Koko commented as she stared up at the looming hull of the Nightfall still firmly on the ground and so close to completion that Valentine didn't even need to be present at the shipyard anymore. Unbeknownst to Koko and her team was that Valentine made it a point to showcase a small... teaser to the entire work crew - over 700 people in all - of the consequences for the security breach by the Syndicate, and that any more delays would result in more than just that gruesome teaser.

"Why would I do that?" Valentine replied with a smirk.

"Well that big sidearm of yours looks a lot like the Smart Pistol from Titanfall, for starters." Koko indicated Valentine's Auto-Wing on his leg, which also went with his own T-15 variant, the barest minimum components and next to no armour plating. It was even less substantial than Sheva's T-15a2 Pilot model.

"It inspired the design, yes." Valentine chuckled as they all turned towards the access elevator that lead to a bridge to the deck of the ship above them. "And my T-15 here has certain pieces inspired by the game as well."

"I'm still waiting for the punchline." Koko teased as they gathered in the elevator and went to the top, during which Valentine held his tongue with a cheeky little smile tugging at his lips. The doors opened and Koko groaned in amusement.

"You even made yourself your own BT-7274!"

"Not exactly, Miss Heckmatyar. I am Cherub Class BSAA-NF01, otherwise known as Rico. I assure you, I know about the Titan you speak of and the design similarities that we share." Rico's head and optical sensors were focused on them as they crossed the short bridge to stand on the deck proper. "Greetings, and welcome aboard the Nightfall."

"I can't imagine what the view would be like once we're in the air, even from here it's impressive." Lehm commented with an impressed expression at the ship's main deck armaments, especially the menacing railgun turrets, four mounts with three guns each, that loomed even over Rico's head. He did recall that there were seven mounts in total, and something like eighteen railguns themselves. Where were the other six guns?

"Oh believe me, it'll be quite impressive." Valentine chuckled. "Rico, my hoverboard please."

"Yes sir." Rico opened his armour plating and the underlying cockpit as he reached up to retrieve the board that had been temporarily stored on the seat tucked inside the mass of controls and holographic displays.

"Yup, definitely cooler in person." Koko laughed after witnessing the cockpit hatch close before being protected by the mass of armoured plating around it. "How tall are you, Rico?"

"38 feet, 7 inches, ma'am."

"And how big do you think BT is?" Valentine asked, since even he didn't know the exact number for the Titan's height in the game.

"By evaluating the footage of the game, I estimate that BT-7274 stands around twenty five feet in height."

"So you're a lot bigger, for sure." Koko laughed. "So, Valentine, shall we continue with the tour of the ship?"

"See you in the hangar bay, Rico." Valentine gave a nod and a wave to the mech as he rose a few feet into the air with his hoverboard. "Right this way, Koko."

* * *

"Pardon me, Mr. Darkwood, is Rachael home?" Zenith asked as he looked up to find Tobias' staggering frame in the doorway of the family's front door.

"And you are?" Tobias was rightfully suspicious at the new teenager, let alone the fact he was asking for Rachael by name.

"My name is Zenith, I've met your daughters a few times, and well... to be blunt... Rachael admitted to having romantic feelings towards me when I visited the bar with my roommates, who made things much too awkward for both of us. I came with the intention to speak with her about the possibility of going on a date before classes begin on Monday."

"Hmmm... I see." Tobias stared at the teenager carefully, noting his facial features intently. "Step inside, she's on her way."

"Thank you, sir." Zenith bowed his head in respect as the large man stepped aside to reveal Rachael halfway down the stairs, both coming to a halt as they saw each other.

"Zenith...?" Rachael's cheek went red as she recalled Yuuki's comment about him coming back to see her by himself.

"I was wondering if you'd like to go on a date with me before classes begin." Zenith didn't even need to glance at Tobias beside him to know that asymmetrical gaze was studying him intensely.

"I uh..." Rachael blinked all of her eyes for a moment, thinking fast. "If you've got time, we could go grab a coffee right now."

Tobias smirked behind Zenith's back as he caught the sound of Yuuki's low chuckling from upstairs. Of course, this was her doing.

"I'd love to." Zenith's precious little smile appeared, and Rachael blushed even more at the sight of it. "I'll wait here, whenever you're ready."

"I'll be right back. Please don't scare him, Dad." Rachael shot her smirking father a glare as she hurried back to her room.

In a surprising twist, Tobias spoke to Zenith in a low voice in fairly fluent German. "Are you the original or the clone?"

"With all due respect, Mr. Darkwood, I'd like to earn your daughter's trust first." Zenith replied in - much better - German as well. "But, to answer your question... I am the clone of Zenith Wesker, the only son of Albert and Alex Wesker."

The sound of Yuuki's laughter from upstairs caught their attention, just as Rachael came out of their room with blazing scarlet cheeks from her twin's onslaught of teasing.

"Back in a bit, please slap her when you get a chance." Rachael spoke to her father as her heeled boots clicked across the hardwood flooring to approach Zenith.

"I heard her. She's not wrong, Rachael. I'd have said the same thing." Tobias chuckled again before adding. "See you when you get back."

The pair left the house and hopped into Zenith's awaiting Audi, which was a slight surprise to Rachael after remembering his white Triumph motorcycle.

"I thought you rode a Triumph...?" Rachael sat beside him as he turned the engine over and put on his seatbelt, and she did the same after a moment of confusion. Bikes didn't have them, and she felt like an idiot.

"I have two vehicles, this and my bike." Zenith smiled as he carefully backed out of the driveway and headed for the nearby coffee shop that he knew - from watching a few episodes of Darkwood's first season - the family typically went to. "And what about you? Just your bike?"

"Yeah, but me and Yuuki are setting money aside for a car. We're still deciding on a make and model."

"Sounds like a worthy plan." Zenith nodded slightly. "I um..." He paused for a moment. "I like you too, Rachael... I'm a bit new to relationships, believe it or not."

Rachael could feel her heart pounding at his confession to her. Yuuki didn't say shit about that curveball...

"Well, let's just... take things one step at a time, alright? No need to just blindly rush this, after all." Rachael kept herself focused on the conversation, knowing that it was still new for her as well. She might appear to be a nearly 18 year old girl, but she knew very well that she was actually only about 3 years old. She was 'born' at the age of 15.

"Absolutely." Zenith felt the same internal conflict she was unbeknownst to him having at the same time. He was a clone, and even though his original bore the same romantic feelings towards her that he did himself, his situation was much more complicated than it seemed.

He had to start their entire relationship... Which was the hard part, by default.


	39. Chapter 39

"Before we begin, I have small presentation to share to you." Yuuki and Rachael's professor sat on the edge of his desk and placed an empty jar on the surface from his bag. "Is this jar empty?"

Everyone chorused a 'yes', watching warily. Not even the twins knew what this was.

Next, he produced a bag of ping-pong balls, and dumped them into the jar, barely filling it up one third of the way. "And how about now?"

Some people hesitantly said no, others stayed silent, and the twins narrowed all six of their eyes.

Next, a cup of gravel was added, filling the gaps in between the balls. "And what about now?"

The class stayed silent, listening intently.

Sand from another cup, collecting right on top of the gravel and balls. "And now, is it still empty?"

The jar was quite full, but nobody answered. They didn't know the correct thing to say.

Finally, he produced a bottle of beer. Opened it and poured it right into the jar, which filled it right to the top, making the sand seep into the cracks in a gooey sludge. "Now, is this jar finally full?"

Everyone said yes at the same time, all of them nodding while staring at him expectantly for the point of the muddy, gravelly jar of ping-pong balls and a wasted bottle of really good beer.

"What this jar symbolizes is you." He explained. "The ping-pong balls are the important things. Yourself. Family. School. The gravel is the less important things, your job, your car, your house." The professor clasped his hands together after placing the empty beer bottle aside. "The sand is the stuff that's not important. If I put the sand in first, I wouldn't have been able to fit the balls in, nor the gravel. This is a metaphor, about your priorities. Prioritize the important things first, and the rest will just fall into place. Worry about the small stuff, you can't deal with the really important stuff."

"Sir, what about the beer?" A guy asked.

"It's to show that no matter what, you'll always have room to go for a beer with a friend after everything's settled." He smiled as he stood up. "Welcome to the Social and Cultural Studies elective course. In this class you will learn about the ever evolving concept called culture, both locally and abroad. Even this very classroom is a culture."

He clapped his hands together once, staring them each in the face for a moment before continuing. "Now, I'm Professor Glen, I'd like to start by learning everyone's names, and where they're from. I see a diverse mix of students befitting of our class culture. We'll start here, young man, and go by rows. When it's your moment on the spot, please stand up so everyone can see you."

With that, the students gave their name and where they were from, mostly LA itself, but a few were from out of state, and one girl was from France. When it was the twins turn, they both stood up, which raised a few eyebrows.

"We're the Darkwood twins, I'm Yuuki, the older one." Yuuki began, smiling slightly.

"I'm Rachael." Rachael laughed at Yuuki's intro for them both. "We were both born here in LA, but we're originally from Raccoon City."

"Yo, Darkwood?! For real?! The T-Ghouls n' shit?" One guy asked in awe, and the girls nodded.

"Yup. These aren't contacts." Yuuki indicated their six glowing eyes with one hand. "And the sparkling in our hair aren't glitter either."

"Well, I must admit you are the first celebrities that I've had the privilege of teaching, ladies." Professor Glen nodded at them with a smile. "I hope that your perspectives offer new knowledge for the class to learn from."

"Hey, by all means, just don't swarm us for pictures and autographs. We're still regular people, y'know." Yuuki held up her hand to give a dismissive wave. "Sorry about the sidetracking, sir."

* * *

"Good morning, students. Welcome to 11th grade Mathematics." The teacher stood with her hands on her hips at the chalkboard, her voice already clipped with that teacher tone to render them quiet. "In my class, you get assigned work in every class, and you get homework every week on Monday that carries you until Friday, to hopefully leave your weekends free for yourself. If you do the homework on Monday, it'll be out of your way for the whole week. Now, come get a textbook and I'll begin today's lesson."

Valentine shook his head slightly as they all stood up to go get the books, commenting in Russian to Sheva, who was quickly learning the language from the entire Darkwood family. "She must be a fan of the show."

As Sheva giggled in reply, their teacher's gaze snapped to them and she spoke up sternly. "Ladies, for the sake of everyone in the class, I ask that you solely speak English."

"I spoke too soon." Valentine smirked as he switched back to English, earning another laugh from Sheva. She was the only person in the class that had been in his classes for the previous school year, so nobody seemed to know them, especially not the teacher.

Under the rigid structure of her teaching style, the bell to signal the next class seemed to rear out of no where for the students, having already received their homework for the week before beginning their day's assignment itself. Valentine and Sheva heaved a sigh as they shoved the textbooks into their bags and went into the hall, sharing a quick kiss before heading in opposite directions, ignoring the catcalls and glares from other students - mostly guys - that had witnessed the apparent lesbians sharing a kiss.

"If only they knew..." Sheva commented to herself in Russian as she hurried to her second class, Visual Art, a credit she had neglected to take for some time now. When she arrived, she sat at one of the heavily paint-splattered and equally grafittied work tables while her teacher was busy gathering some supplies from the storage closet at the back corner of the room.

"I was beginning to worry that you didn't like art, honey."

Sheva knew right away that Serenity was sitting on the table beside her before even looking up to see her beaming smile, which she returned sheepishly.

"Kinda wanted to get the boring stuff out of the way first." Sheva replied, relaxing slightly. Of course Serenity would be here for a guest appearance. She'd been doing them for years, even back when she was still human in Raccoon City.

"I'm surprised Val's not taking this with you. I can sense him on the other side of the gym, what's he taking?" Serenity's gaze lingered in the direction that Sheva had originally come from, clearly sensing Valentine's T-Virus.

"Metalworking. Just like Dad did in 12th grade in Raccoon City, right?" Sheva laughed slightly at the sudden twinkle in Serenity's eyes.

"I still remember that day, and the little metal rose I made for the presentation. Gave it to him at the end as a joke." She laughed as other students began filing in, then switched to speaking in low Russian. "You want a ride home for lunch? Or did you bring one?"

"I did... but I forgot it, yeah. That'd be great, thanks, Sere." Sheva nodded as Serenity winked and faded out of sight, since she'd been cheekily casting a Photokinetic illusion around Sheva and herself the whole time, to seem like Sheva was on the phone to her.

"Now, ladies and gentlemen, the art department has called in a guest speaker to give a short presentation... Mrs. Serenity Cora Avalise-Darkwood." Their art teacher stood at the front of the large classroom, glancing around the room to find the elusive woman that had been here just a moment ago...

"Art... so dynamic, yet rigid... shapeless, evolving, ever broad." Serenity's voice spoke up from the middle of the room, still invisible as she slowly wandered around the walkways between the tables, flickering in and out of her illusion to draw their attention. "Yet traditional, static, even unorthodox. Like the human mind, it is unique to the individual as what they perceive. From a picture in the margin of a notebook, to a figurehead on a ship, the form that it may take is different, but the person that made it started with the same thing... Inspiration."

She fully appeared beside Sheva, one hand on her shoulder, the other on her own hip. "So tell me... are any of you inspired by something? Something that drives you, gives you that purpose! To create bigger and better, more beautiful things? I'm inspired almost every single day... Are _**you**_?" She knowingly let her gaze linger on you for a moment, a small smile tugging at her lips.

* * *

Valentine arrived at his metalworking class with a smile. The familiar air of a workshop put him at ease as he stood with the entirely male students gathered at the entrance while their teacher, a big burly man with a tribal tattoo on his left forearm, approached them from the nearby office.

"Alright gents... lady. Bags go by the door for today, but after today you ditch them in your lockers before class. I don't mind if you're late by a couple minutes for that. Now, long hair, jewelry, and all that need to be properly secured. Young lady, you'll need to put all your rings and bracelets in your bag for today, get into the habit of it, alright?" He stared directly at Valentine, with his heavily laden fingers and wrists, plus his lacy black gloves just like his oldest sister was practically infamous for wearing at all times.

"You needn't worry about that, sir." Valentine ignored ths snickering of the guys around him. "And as hard as it may be to believe... I'm not a girl."

"Uh huh..." A slow nod of acceptance. "Alright, young man... get yourself sorted, everyone else stand at a workstation."

"Like I said, sir... you needn't worry about that." Valentine repeated his words curtly. "Or do I need to prove it to all of you that I'm not just some ditzy femboy for you to act all misogynistic with?"

"There's no need for that, just for safety..." The teacher began, but suddenly Valentine's T-15a3 extended from beneath his white off-shoulder sweater, locking into place around his torso and limbs as he put both hands onto his hips in a very feminine sternness.

"I work for the BSAA as one of their top engineers. This is my personal T-15a3 Exosuit... That I designed for the BSAA to replace their T-13's. Among other projects, of course. I would appreciate the proper respect that this entails. This class is far less intensive, let along strenuous on my capabilities, nor my existing adherence to safety procedure."

"Prove it, twink." One guy challenged. "My dad's in the BSAA, Delta Team's sniper."

"My dad _founded_ the BSAA, you insolent worm. He's Alpha Team Leader." Valentine flicked his wrist to send his BSAA ID card spinning towards the cocky kid, who fumbled to catch it before realizing who he was talking to as he read the photo ID with several other guys peering over his shoulders.

" _Oh_."

* * *

"Care to explain to me what this is, Zenith?" Alex Wesker glared at her son, who accepted the brandished photograph, examining it closely.

It was a recon drone shot, of Rachael Darkwood walking across the college campus with a very Aryan young man about her own age, sans her older twin, Yuuki. It was dated less than thirty minutes earlier, in LA's local time.

"I see one twin... But not two. Unusual, but I see no additional points of interest." Zenith shook his head and placed the picture on their kitchen table, in their home in Berlin.

"Why does that young man look so much like you?" Alex demanded, frowning at her son.

"Coincidence? He's blonde and seems to have blue eyes, not exactly uncommon in combination, let alone the fact I'm several years older than he seems to be. Not to mention I am taller than Rachael, and Yuuki, by an inch and a half. He seems to be shorter than her by at least that much."

"A mother knows her son... and that looks just like you." Alex pursed her lips, stepping away from the table to take a steadying breath, collecting herself. "So it's just a coincidence that he looks like you? Are you absolutely positive?"

"I haven't been to North America. Ever." Zenith replied. "The only time I haven't been by your side is my trip to South Africa at the end of August. I highly doubt the twins' Hydrokinesis could handle that dry heat for very long, let alone the fact they traveled to Africa in the first place."

"It's a 62% match though..." Alex's cyberbrain's results of comparing him to the picture were too high of a match to overlook.

"And compare it to Father's other son, Jake Muller, Yuuki's boyfriend. We are both reminiscent of him, and if compared, we're both more than 50% of a match to each other." Zenith pointed out. "And it's just one young guy her age, it's irrelevant in the bigger picture. What would he be, at best? A fellow student? Dare I be bold and call him her boyfriend? It doesn't matter, he's a civilian... a mere human, at that. A Ghoul at best."

"You're right... I apologize, I'm overreacting." Alex sighed, then recalled another question she wanted to ask him. "Has the ship reported back yet from the Pacific?"

"I told them not to report back yet..." Both of them shared a glance at the sound of that voice they knew so well speaking from the front entrance of the home.

Albert Wesker, in a clean black suit with white shirt and a red tie, smirked from behind his also brand new sunglasses as he slowly strode into the kitchen after his two year stint at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean. "Honey... I'm home!"


	40. Chapter 40

"Imma do the thing."

"Yuuki, no!"

"Yuuki, _yes_!"

Without even a moment of hesitation, Yuuki pressed the play button on her phone, instantly blasting a sound file she'd created for their livestream soundboard, but absolutely fit the news that Rachael just told her and the livestream.

"N-notice me, Senpai!" The adorable little girl's voice made Rachael's face go crimson, covering it with her hands as Yuuki laughed. Of course the chat was having just as much fun after Rachael revealed that she and Zenith were dating officially, not just having a secretive relationship anymore.

"Can I sic Dad on him again? Please?" Yuuki lowered her phone to resume their chatstream's relaxed air, since the two of them were spending it after they'd gotten off work, and were both gathering and installing mods for Payday 2 and Skyrim, respectively, at present.

"I think Mom should get her punches in too. I think that shotgun shell threat she gave Jake was fucking genius." Valentine's Widow message popped up in the chat, earning questions from the viewers about what he meant.

"Please don't..." Rachael was still hiding behind her hands, her voice slightly muffled.

"First date me and Jake went on, Mom tossed a shotgun shell to him and said 'it goes faster after curfew', which in case you don't get it... she threatened to shoot him if he brought me back later than the curfew they'd given him." Yuuki explained, typing with one hand as she tapped her chin for a moment, thinking about what mods she was interested in on the mod website for the game. "Sucks that it wasn't filmed for Darkwood, would've been fucking hilarious."

"Why can't I say I've got myself a boyfriend and get normal gossip questions?" Rachael groaned as she leaned her jaw against her raised knuckles to resume searching for interesting or useful mods for their favourite co-op shooter game.

"Because we're not a normal family?" Serenity quipped in the chat. "And you're being so adorable we just _have_ to tease you."

"We should give them a ship name. Like Yuuki's Cloaker Smokers name for Sokol and Clover!" One of the viewers suggested, quickly earning a flurry of ideas until Yuuki locked down the chat after catching one in particular that she didn't like at all. Barbarosa, the military operation name of Adolf Hitler's initial invasion of Russia during the Second World War.

"I get that you guys have name ideas for them, but anyone mentioning Stalin, Hitler, or the Second World War in any form will get banned for a week."

* * *

"Wait, hold up..." A student did a double take at the sight of Yuuki and Rachael eating a hasty breakfast in one of the campus cafeterias, simple breakfast burritos and coffee. "Aren't you two those famous Ghouls or something?"

"We are." Rachael replied curtly. They weren't exactly in good moods for being late to leave for their 8AM class, especially since they'd missed grabbing their usual breakfast of flesh - human and a small amount of Ghoul for their Kakuja's - so the question was already starting to annoy them both.

"But don't Ghouls only eat... people?" He asked, clearly confused by the sight of them eating the very not-flesh burritos.

"We're not normal Ghouls." Yuuki replied as she tore a chunk off hers and began to chew it as her Kakugan slowly formed. "We can eat whatever we want."

"I don't get it... how can you...?"

With a snarl of frustration, Yuuki slammed her hands onto the table and stood up, her Kagune whipping out from behind her back to smack the guy with the flat side of the wide blade.

"Fuck... _Off_." Yuuki was seething, all six of her Kakugan focused on the unharmed boy on the floor. "It's not even seven thirty yet, we're hungry and you're being a pest. So be thankful we're omnivorous this morning and not carnivorous."

"You good?" Rachael slowly stood up and tucked her knuckle under Yuuki's chin, which immediately defused her anger and made her blink at Rachael for a moment until her Kagune disintegrated and the guy backed off.

"Damn Virus is acting up. Yours?" Yuuki heaved a sigh as they slowly sat down to resume eating their burritos.

"Not sure, doesn't feel like it was." Rachael shrugged slightly. "I mean, sure he was annoying, but I'm alright. At least you didn't hurt him."

"I was honestly going for bruises."

"He got up by himself and walked away, I think he got the message. So want me and Zenith to keep an eye on you in class?"

"Wait what?" Yuuki raised her eyebrow in confusion.

"He's in our Intro to Sexuality Studies class at eight." Rachael tapped her wrist to imply the time. "He showed me his timetable, it's just the one class he has with us this semester."

"The hell is he taking?" Yuuki asked, since they were both taking it due to their... interesting perspective on sexuality and relationships.

"General History."

"Boring." Yuuki shoved more food into her mouth with a shrug.

"It's not as boring as you'd think, Yuuki." Zenith spoke up from behind them, carrying a coffee cup in one hand. "Guten morgen, Rachael." He flashed her that precious smile, making her blush, knowing he did it on purpose to make her blush, just like that moment, in combination with his cute tone to his German greeting.

* * *

Their Intro to Sexuality Studies class was taught by a surprisingly attractive male teacher in his early thirties with a perfectly trimmed beard. And it was evident pretty quickly that he was passionate about teaching, even Yuuki with her agitated T-Virus could tell. Zenith had been briefed on her little issue, and gave her a careful check every so often as they went through the student introductions, until it was their turn.

Yuuki and Rachael introduced themselves the same as their previous classes. "We're the Darkwood twins. I'm Yuuki, the older one. This is Rachael." She indicated her sister with one hand. "In case the six glowing eyes and the sparkling silver hair didn't give it away, we're not human. We're T-Ghouls."

Several girls immediately began clamoring to speak to them, but in a surprising display of tact, their professor spoke up in a calm, clear tone.

"And we shall respect that, without argument. You have as equal rights to an education as anyone else in this college, and that means you aren't to be singled out for it, for any reason. It is a pleasure to meet you both, ladies."

Yuuki and Rachael's jaws instantly dropped, and even Yuuki's T-Virus stopped acting up... Instantly.

"You, sir... are now my favourite professor."

* * *

"Alright gents, back to basics. Have to do it, it's part of the curriculum."

Most of the boys sighed or groaned, but Valentine gave no reaction. He knew just by their hands that some of the other guys had little to no experience. His own palms, even under his lacy black gloves, were heavily callused, which the T-Virus didn't regenerate, just like the hickies that Yuuki often received from Stella and Sherry.

"Yo, Darkwood, don't be getting all high and mighty on us. Don't be a know-it-all." One of the nearest guys whispered as their teacher explained the basic safety standards for the class.

"It's already an established fact. I don't need to." Valentine smirked. "So pay attention, earn the know-it-all title for yourself."

"Nah man, girls don't like know-it-all's." He continued, earning a narrowed gaze from Valentine at his comment.

"Not all of them... Find the right girl and she might." Valentine commented quietly making the guy strain to hear him. "You have your priorities all wrong, and you're thinking with the wrong head. Where do you think you'll be in five to ten years?"

"Filthy rich and ripped as fuck." He replied, indicating his biceps with a smirk.

"I see myself working alongside my father in the BSAA, as Captain of the Nightfall, with my girlfriend by my side, and her 39 foot tall combat mech standing on the deck of my ship, ready for combat against bioterrorism at a moment's notice."

"In English please?" He clearly didn't keep up with what Valentine just said, despite the simplicity of the statement.

"I see myself with a stable job, happy relationship and a passion. Not to mention a purpose for doing it all."


	41. Chapter 41

"Eyes to Ears, I've located the target."

"Ears here, details."

"Target is with red twin, near the soda machines at a table."

"Are they alone?"

" _Nyet_."

Eyes gulped at the sound of Yuuki's voice behind his place at the edge of a pillar. The edge of her knife at his kidney a reminder of his actions were limited.

"Syndicate..." Yuuki scowled slightly, knowing that 'Ears' could hear her over the phone in Eyes' hand. "Why are you so blindly obeying that fucking woman and her tyrade against us?"

"We all have our reasons, young Miss Darkwood." Ears replied. "Why do you fight _us_?"

"I don't. I just defend myself and my family when we're threatened. So why are you still shoving your nose where it doesn't belong?"

"As I just said, we have our reasons." Ears chuckled slightly. "I will say this... It's internal politics, not about you and your family."

"Oh, you mean Zen? Not surprising that you dumb fucks don't know everything. Alright, you guys go waddle around with your pants around your ankles. But any idiots that try to hurt him, or us... Well, you know our methods for dealing with pests. Do svidaniya~!" With that falsely cheery tone and a matching wave of her hand, Yuuki withdrew her kukri knife from Eyes' lower back and walked away, immediately vanishing into the crowd of students milling around the food court's many venues.

* * *

"Alright, let's start with a simple assignment; since this is an art credit, you're gonna draw a blueprint for something that you guys can see yourself building in this class by the end of the semester..." The metalworking teacher indicated the simple paper that he had placed on the workbenches before the class had begun. All of the guys were staring at the blank pages warily, unsure of what they would be able to build. Valentine was smirking as he raised his hand.

"And what materials are being permitted for this major project? I work with Quinque Steel on a regular basis for my BSAA work."

"Normal steel, copper, bronze, and brass were used last year the most. So within reason, some Quinque Steel would be understandable to use." The teacher explained. "But it won't be anywhere near as much as you'd be using at work."

"Oh believe me, I am well aware of the limitations. I did spend half a billion dollars on my current project for work, after all."

"On what?!" Several guys exclaimed in shock.

"A flying battleship and a 39 foot combat mech, plus hired the workers themselves. I even have $30 million set aside for an additional project for my ship." Valentine explained, twirling his pen between his fingers. "I'm not joking. Ask your dad, it's not exactly a top secret project." He glanced at the nearby guy that mentioned his father was Delta Team's sniper.

"Got a picture or something of it?"

"I do." Valentine produced his hologram projector from his belt of pouches, turning it on to display the same render of the Nightfall that he had shown to Congress in the spring. "The Nightfall, 600 meters long, armed with eighteen railguns and just about every conventional weapon you could put onto a vessel like this. Oh, and that mech I mentioned? Got a projector for him too. His nickname from his pilot is Rico, but his official serial ID is Cherub Class BSAA-NF01." Valentine switched projectors, replacing the Nightfall's render with Rico's.

"Looks like a Titan from the Titanfall series, but with an actual head on top of it."

"And where do you think I got the idea from in the first place?" Valentine asked pointedly.

* * *

"So you two mentioned you've got something important to tell all of us?" Alice gave Rachael and Zenith a curious stare as she and Serenity arrived after the meeting request for the whole family, plus Motoko, Stella, Jake, Sherry and Natasha, to hear what they had to say.

"Rachael's not the only clone." Zenith waste no time in beating around the bush with awkwardness. "I am the clone of Zenith Wesker, the son of Albert and Alexandra Wesker."

"Hold up..." Jake, unsurprisingly, spoke up immediately. "Aren't they siblings?"

"You say that, yet you know exactly what the two of us do to each other almost every night." Yuuki commented with a smirk. "Be real, babe. Incest isn't exactly unique, let alone rare."

"Although I appear the same age as Rachael and Yuuki, the original Zenith is 24 years old. Their coupling predates your mother's marriage to Albert, let alone your birth." Zenith explained. "In fact, from the genetic memories I have from him, Zenith was alive during the time frame that Mr. Darkwood was employed by the Umbrella Corporation, and I do remember several times where he overheard the mention of him by name, between Alex and Albert in their home." Zenith nodded at Tobias, who was in the family's big black armchair.

"So, incest aside, why the fuck are you even here? I won't say I understand the bigger picture about you, man." Jake asked with a vague wave of his hand.

"It's not what you'd expect, believe it or not." Zenith smirked for a moment. "The real Zenith began to foster romantic feelings towards Rachael after news of her new existence reached the ears of the Syndicate, and up until a recent trip of his to South Africa, he couldn't let them go, since he was all but bombarded by intel reports of your whole family daily. So, after secretly creating myself, I was given the task to befriend and foster a relationship with Rachael, in the hopes that she would return the feelings he felt towards her."

"I sense an additional aspect." Rize immediately narrowed her eyes.

"He planned to join her after defecting from the Syndicate's ranks. He did inform me before I left his side that his defection would take some time, which he entrusted me in at least presenting to Rachael the idea of being in a relationship with, as to put it simply, a pair of twin brothers."

"So it's not a Syndicate trap? Just a lovestruck boy with assets and funds on his side?" Stella glanced between the half-brothers, Jake and Zenith, her arms crossed as she raised one eyebrow. "I mean, it's kinda cute and all, but the fact it's the big boss bitch's son makes it a lot more dangerous in the long run."

"Stella's right. We already encountered Alex in person once before, it's not a far stretch to say it'll happen again, even before she gets her damned fleet of knockoff Nightfalls into the sky." Tobias nodded. "So, did the real Zenith think that far ahead, or was he too focused on Rachael?"

"He's not foolish, by any means." Zenith explained with a slight head shake. "And I am regularly updated on Syndicate politics related to his whole plan, namely his mother and her top advisors. Yes, he is one of them himself."

"So tell me... What do you think of this, Rachael?" Serenity had long since noticed that Rachael was barely talking.

"I mean... we're both clones, so we have that special connection to each other... But I... Um... If he's doing this to join Zen, and it's this large scale on his end... then he must really feel that way to me. It's unusual, for sure... And I shouldn't be talking since I _do_ bang Yuuki, well aware of the fact that I'm her clone. It's just... Zen, and the original Zenith both treat me like I'm my own person, and not just 'Yuuki's clone' or 'Yuuki's twin' and all that crap."

"Because you _are_ your own person. How you were brought into the world doesn't matter in the grand scheme of things. Nobody should be holding it against you either. You still walk, talk, think and breathe on your own. That makes you an individual person, no matter how poorly others think of you." Zenith flashed Rachael his precious little smile, and his speech was immediately rewarded by a brazen, fiery kiss from Rachael, uncaring of her family witnessing their actual first kiss as a couple as she hummed happily into his mouth.

"For that... you've earned my respect _and_ my trust. I'm sure everyone else can agree with me." Tobias stood up from the armchair and approached Zenith as Rachael let him breathe. "And if I may be so bold, you might want to get used to that shortened nickname before your _brother_ finally arrives here in LA... right, Zen?"


	42. Chapter 42

"One month... and you still haven't banged him. So who's the one holding back?" Yuuki chuckled slightly to Rachael, who had grown out of the blushing adorableness by now, save for the really good teases she sometimes received from both Yuuki and Zen himself.

"You have a harem to keep up with, I've just got you and him, so forgive him for thinking with the upper head." Rachael countered with a smirk. They were just preparing for a livestream during their day off from both work and classes, the ever fateful Monday. "Besides, we already said we wouldn't rush things. If we want to fuck, we'll fuck."

Of course as she said that, the broadcast started, which caught her last sentence completely out of context, which wasn't an uncommon occurrence at the start of their streams. So, Yuuki greeted the buzzing chat. "Monday motherfuckers! We're gonna do a bit of everything today, bit of gaming to start, then some gossip we were just sharing, and then some discussions for our Cultures class. Might turn it over to a chatstream in between them all, or during breaks. So, let's start with choosing what game we'll play first and get the ball rollin'!"

Almost immediately the chat was flooded with requests for a number of games, since they always had a link to their ever expanding collection of games in the Web's main page.

"Alright, Widow's speak up for roll call! Who's here?" Rachael asked, idly scrolling through her Steam library to decide on a game with the chat.

"Sherry here! I've got a two hour class at noon, and another one hour at three, so I'll be here for the start, and back by four thirty. Lucky fucks getting a whole day off."

"Mom here, I'll be in and out all morning, but I'll be good all afternoon. You two plan to watch this week's episode with the rest of us?"

"Damn right!" Yuuki flashed a metal horns gesture at her facecam for her mother. "Dad at work?"

"All day." Rize replied. "And Alice too."

"Sere?" Yuuki knew that if she wasn't working on a client or a large two-handed project, her aunt was gonna be watching the broadcast.

"I'll keep an ear on the stream, got clients all day, honey. If there's any hotties, I'll definitely share with you~!"

"Any other Widows? Koko? Mishka? Stella? Motoko?" Yuuki asked, but got no further replies from her family and friends. "Val and Sheva are at school, and I know Jake's got two classes this morning. He might be in later. Anyway, time for us to make up our minds and pick a damn game!"

"Dual stream of Sword of the Stars: The Pit? We still haven't beaten the fuckin' thing." Rachael asked, pointing at the rogue-like that was just as old as Payday 2, but only a dozen players had successfully beaten the dungeon crawler on the highest difficulty in the over 20 years since it had been released.

"Marine!" Yuuki called out excitedly, since the character was easy to use. They both fired up the game, set the broadcast to a split view - to show their respective games simultaneously - and started a new attempt; Yuuki as the Marine, Rachael as the Engineer.

* * *

"That fucking game..." Yuuki growled in frustration after both of them failed - several times - to reach the end floor with a multitude of the characters. "So, how about something that doesn't hate us?"

"Feeling up for some sneks?" Rachael knew the cheeky mispronunciation of 'sneaks' with a short E, rather than a long one, was easily misinterpreted as...

"Wait, what?" Yuuki turned her head to her twin, blinking her main eyes for a moment.

" _Payday_! Do you wanna do the sneaky business?!" Rachael laughed, as was the chat. "Or did I throw you off too much with that question?"

"I mean, sex is always welcome. But I wanna do some more One Down heists, not in the mood for stealth." Yuuki grinned back. "Wait, didn't we download that one mod... uh... Silent Assassin! Fuck it, let's try it out!"

"The Diamond!" Instantly the chat was lit up with the one heist that the sisters absolutely loved to play in stealth.

"Damn right!" They both laughed as they booted up the game and got things set up in record time. "So the mod makes guards drop dead without setting off their pagers as long as we kill them in one shot. So I'm gonna use a Heavy Crossbow and the Broomstick. You?"

"English Longbow and the Gruber Kurz. Still love the Chromed Sparrow skin for it!" Rachael replied. "So, can we still do pagers if we don't one shot them?"

"Same as vanilla, if that's the case. Gonna do the powerful guns, just in case." Yuuki nodded. "So, time for that gossip I mentioned. Ray, you or me?" Yuuki turned to Rachael with a cheeky smirk, setting up the multiplayer lobby for her twin to join her in their sneaky business.

"Yuuki was making fun of me for not having sex with my new boyfriend, Zen. Before she said that, she came up with her own ship name for us. We're sharing it here on our livestream instead of slipping it into an episode of Darkwood."

"So what's the ship name?" Chat didn't like the suspense of her lead-up statement, and were clearly getting excited.

"'Raisins'." Yuuki chuckled. "It uses my little nickname for her, with her nickname for him. Ray and Zen. Raisin."

Chat seemed to think it was cute, and some of them made jokes that raisins weren't as sweet as their adorable pairing was. Rachael, however, stuck out her tongue at Yuuki, knowing that the name was clearly accepted and now forever beyond her control.

* * *

"Alright ladies, in certain situations you may be forced to defend yourself, maybe at a party, or a bar, even walking to or from class in the evenings. We're here today to provide you with some simple, emergency self-defense techniques in case you are assaulted." The demonstrator and her male assistant stood in the middle of the auditorium with an impact matt laid out beneath their feet.

"I get that this is mandatory and all, but not everyone here is untrained in self-defense!" A girl several seats away from Yuuki and Rachael suddenly stood up, and the way she just so conveniently rose out of her seat like that hinted that she was acting on a script as part of the presentation.

"And not everyone is immune to the risk of sexual harassment and assault, even males!" The woman onstage held up one hand, the other on her hip. "So, does anyone here have self defense or martial arts training? Raise a hand, ladies."

About a tenth of the students held up a hand. The twins nodded their heads, their arms crossed casually. And by sheer coincidence, the demonstrator pointed at them.

"You two ladies, the twins with the hair glitter, could you come up to the stage with me?" She beckoned for them to join her, and they shared a glance before joining the man and woman on the stage, earning polite, but brief applause as motivation from the other students.

"Now, ladies, do you have any training? I didn't see your hands very well."

"Yes we do, our dad taught us himself." Rachael nodded, her hands on her hips. "Several different techniques, in fact. Much more advanced than these anti-rape maneuvers you'd be teaching us."

"Might we ask for a presentation? As a show for the other girls?" The male asked, and the twins both knew this was part of their script.

"Dad, Mishka or classic?" Yuuki asked Rachael in Russian, smirking slightly.

" _Classic_." Rachael nodded as she replied in kind before turning to the instructor. "Coin toss to choose who does the fun part." She produced a quarter from her pocket, tinging it up and letting it land on the matt at her feet before quickly covering it with her foot. "She's heads. I'm tails."

With a nod, she slid her foot back, revealing the heads side up. "Heh. Enjoy~!" Rachael slid the coin away with the same foot as Yuuki grinned, her Kakugan forming as she opened her upper eyes and let her Kakuja burst out of the gap in the gap between her corset and belt.

All of the girls screamed, and the instructors took an instinctive step backwards. Of course Yuuki laughed.

"Scare your attacker enough and he won't be attacking you at all. We're both T-Ghouls, the Darkwood twins. So ladies, think ahead before you put yourself in a risky position. Stick with a good friend, a sister, girlfriend, anyone you can trust. Don't wear high heels unnecessarily, it makes you earlier to knock over. Keep track of your drink at a bar or a party, if you need to walk away from it, ditch it or buy a new one. Do not assume it's still YOUR drink. Bring it with you if you can. We work at a bar, we know how this shit happens! And above all else, trust your damn instincts. If you feel threatened or that something's just not right, forget about that cute boy... or girl... just leave the situation. If you see it happen to another girl, fucking save her ass! Don't just look the other way all like 'at least it's not me!'"

"So, if you still end up getting attacked, you'll remember that one time that pair of twin goth girls turned into giant spiders and taught you how to play it safe. Unleash your inner spider, ladies, and if anyone dares to lay a hand on you, defend yourself and make them regret it!" Rachael joined into the fiery speech as she also formed her Kakuja and fist-bumped her sister.

Within 12 hours, a cellphone video of their hijacked presentation went viral, and not a single girl in that crowd ever forgot that day for the rest of their lives, especially when a few of them were indeed nearly sexually assaulted at some point later in their lives.


	43. Chapter 43

"Hmmm..." Tobias hummed as he read the documents of intel that Sir Integra had compiled from the findings of Seras' master, Alucard, the great Count Dracula from legend. Who was presently seated across from him with his red suit, his matching hat placed on the coffee table, and circular orange glasses on his face, one leg crossed over the other at the knee with his hands tented expectantly in his lap. "That explains why you were gone for so long, Count."

"Believe what you wish, Captain." Alucard's baritone voice easily matched Tobias', but was obviously without the thick accent. It still had just as much menacing authority to it as Tobias' did. "I merely obeyed the orders given to me by my Master. She neglected to ensue this task with a time limit or schedule to abide by."

"You could've at least called." Tobias smirked cheekily, glancing up at the stoic vampire lord across from him.

"I felt no obligation to provide premature information or speculative theory regarding my assigned task's objective. She told me to find out what I could for the Syndicate's fleet of imitation battleships, and so I did. And on an anecdote; I find cellphones rather annoying, even for simple phone calls. I typically leave that task to the Police Girl, under normal circumstances."

"You could at least try." Tobias chuckled, finding Alucard's dislike of modern cellphones to be rather amusing. "Or does not having a pulse interfere with the touchscreen sometimes?"

"Only for certain models." Alucard shook his head slightly. "Now then, I'll take my leave, my work here is done. I was already informed that you will continue working with the Police Girl as our representative. Good evening, Captain."

"And to you as well, my lord." Tobias knew better than to disregard the respect that Alucard deserved, so he stood, shook hands with the Count, and bowed his head slightly as the undead man donned his hat with one hand, then faded into a single black bat-shaped miasma that glowed with red light, then flew straight into the nearest wall, rippling the surface slightly like water as he left.

With a sigh, Tobias pulled his phone out of his pocket and briefly stared at his face reflected in the inert screen, then called the Continental.

"Continental concierge, how may I help you?"

"Could I speak with the manager please." Tobias glanced at the time, since he needed to speak with Winston instead of Wick this time around.

"Hold for one moment please, while I connect you to his office."

A short pause later, Winston's voice came through the line, and the sound of jazz music was playing in the background. "Continental management, Winston speaking."

"Hello Winston, it's Tobias Darkwood calling."

"Ah, Tobias, by the sound of your voice this is important. What can I assist you with today?"

"I need to speak with the Continental Board of Directors, there's a serious matter that's come to my attention that warrants immediate discussion." Tobias explained. He was well aware that his home was being interfered with by the Syndicate, using at least audio bugs and hacks of most of their electronics to get ahold of some intel.

"I can specifically call for an emergency meeting to take place for this matter, but I can't provide a set date until they've all agreed to gather at the table. Unless you wish to incur a penalty to yourself and hijack their next scheduled meeting in about 14 hours. It'll be doable at a high risk-high reward, in that case."

"I am well known for my audacity, after all." Tobias smiled slightly. "I'll need to see you in person for the details. I have an infestation to deal with on my end of things."

"I understand. Shall I inform Jonathan of this discussion in preparation for your arrival?" Winston asked, accompanied by the sound of a pen, clearly making a note of his intended visit.

"Yes, that would be appreciated. I'll fly in as soon as I finish up some of the last minute details. I won't have my phone on me, so I will be arriving unannounced."

"Understood. You take care, Tobias. I'll see you soon." Winston bade him goodbye and they both hung up.

Tobias lowered his phone but didn't put it away. Instead he called Tabitha and Motoko in a conference call, setting it to speakerphone as they both greeted him.

"Got a little tech issue that'll need both of your assistance. It's at the house, could you two stop by soon? I have a flight to New York to catch, so it's urgent."

"I can be there in half an hour." Motoko replied. "Anything you can tell us about the issue?"

"Not with what it is, sadly. I think I get the idea, Snowman." Tabitha chuckled slightly. "I'll be there shortly. Unlike almost everyone else, I can fly, remember? I _am_ the Thunderbird, after all."

* * *

When Motoko arrived, with Stella in tow, the pair was greeted by Tobias and Tabitha sitting on ice thrones at the foot of the driveway, so they got out of her car and saw the piece of paper that Tobias was holding. She glanced between them for a moment, well aware they weren't speaking, and accepted the note, unfolding it to read the very small, precisely written message in Tobias' spidery handwriting.

" _Don't read this aloud. House is bugged by Syndicate. All data is considered compromised. I need you two to sweep and clear the house for any physical devices or tampering, both inside and outside. After that, I'll need all of our devices either protected from hacking or completely quarantined from the wifi network, including the kids' phones, Val's tablet, and all of the girls' computers. Even Rize's phone and computer. Show this note to everyone, I'll be in New York for a couple days to deal with some new intel about the Syndicate. I have left my phone inside, it's on the counter in the kitchen. Kuro and Shiro already know about this note, and they will assist you with the whole process. If I can manage it, I'll be back in no time to act upon the new intel I've gathered, thanks to Alucard's findings for Hellsing's end of things_."

"Alright, consider it done." Motoko already knew that Stella had read it over her shoulder. "I'd thought ahead and brought some of my equipment, just in case it was this sort of problem."

"Thank you, and the drones you can probably see right now are just photo and video surveillance drones. Make sure that note stays out of sight. I have to leave immediately, so I'll be taking a leaf out of your book, Mishka." Tobias stood up, and Tabitha lightly punched his shoulder with a slight laugh.

"I actually fly legitimately, you and Alice drag yourselves through the air with your Telekinesis, you cheaters! And Val reverses his own gravity!"

* * *

Tense silence. That was what greeted Tobias after he had shoved the doors of the grand meeting hall wide open, ignoring the security outside as he stopped in the doorway to speak to the Continental's High Council situated in the middle of the dimly lit room.

"What I am here to discuss is far more pressing than the need for an apology. It is something that makes the Continental look like a secret children's clubhouse, so if you would kindly call off these gentleman, I can get started _without_ any unnecessary bloodshed. I am well aware that only a few of you know who I am."

"Are you a member of the Continental?" One woman demanded, and of course Tobias nodded.

"My handle is Reaper. I am a member of the New York branch, under Winston. My actual name is Tobias Dimitri Darkwood." Tobias replied. "And I am already aware that my brazen actions warrant a heavy penalty to my standing as a member. I assure you, if it wasn't so damning to such a large number of people, I'd have brought this before Congress like a complete jackass."

"Toby, I'm the only one at this table that knows what you're doing outside of Continental affairs." Wick was seated at one side of the circular table, resting his elbow on the armrest of the high backed throne-like chair. "So do you mind if I give them some context?"

"Be my guest, just make it quick."

"Tobias was the central figure of the Raccoon City Incident back in January of 2017. He lead an organization at the time called the Syndicate. They were formed only for the Incident, and officially disbanded after it was all over. Years later, a woman indirectly related to the incident, Alexandra Wesker, reformed the Syndicate and turned it against Tobias and his family, using the original methods that Tobias taught to the first assembly. Now, they make us look like a parent council for an elementary school in comparison. I even have no doubts that some of us at this very table, even our security personnel outside, are members of Wesker's Syndicate."

"So if you are, just shut the fuck up and pay attention like everyone else." Tobias approached the round table and slid a hologram projector across the surface, coming to a halt in the center just as it turned on, displaying a sight that even made Wick do a double take.

"Look familiar to any of you?" Tobias started to slowly walk around the table, behind everyone's backs, his hands casually in his pants pockets. "1500 meters long, powered by three Magno-Cores. Armed with 25 naval cannons, 12 railguns, and enough anti-air and air-to-ground ordnance to blow itself up twice over... What you are looking at is a hyperbolic manifestation of arrogant pride, using a design stolen from my son. This, in a shorter description... is a flying clusterfuck of doomsday proportions. Alex Wesker has affectionately named it The Warhammer. But that's not all she's taken from my son's designs."

With a curt click, the hologram projector shut up, and flipped over with his Telekinesis, now rebooting to display a hulking behemoth of a humanoid robot that easily went with The Warhammer. It resembled a bulky, large-statured ogre, with a large mounted cannon of some kind integrated into it's right shoulder.

"64 feet tall, 39 tonnes. This is the Ogre. Alex stole this from my son too. The original design, who is operational and goes by the name Rico, stands at 39 feet tall and 23 tonnes. Both of them, Rico, and the Ogre, were originally inspired by my own design, a suit of Power Armour known as the T60f Mobile Ordnance Platform, which is eight feet tall and 1200 pounds, with enough firepower to equal three full infantry platoons by itself. Rico's equal to about twenty of my T60f at once."

"Why are you telling us this?" One man demanded.

"Because I require one thing from this Council." Tobias hadn't stopped his slow walk around the large table even for a second. "You are to confirm, through your farthest reaching assets and connections... Where... The... Fuck... Alexandra Wesker... Is... Hiding." Tobias stopped walking suddenly, turning his head so that only his Tyrant Eye was visible in the semi-darkness around himself. "Isn't that right... Albert?"


	44. Chapter 44

"How's the family? Girls should be in college, right?" Albert Wesker's airy casualness was contrasted strongly by his cocky smirk and his inky black sunglasses, and even more so by Tobias' near-perfectly statuesque presence at the other end of the circular table. "And I appreciate you accepting my son into your family, I trust he's doing well?"

"You shouldn't be here..." The same woman that demanded if Tobias was a member of the Continental earlier stood up from her throne-like chair and tried to speak with authority, but Wesker dashed across the room, briefly flickering out of sight, only to reappear right in front of her with his hands clasped behind his back.

"Oh, believe me when I say that you couldn't be more correct, madame." Wesker replied completely calmly, despite his sudden movements. "Unfortunately the facts are true; the Syndicate is no longer under his command..." Wesker turned his head very slightly to indicate the still unmoving Tobias. "And he's correct on all of his points as well."

"Then why are you here, Mr. Albert?" She demanded, earning another glance towards Tobias from the man in her face.

"Wesker." He calmly corrected her. "Albert is my first name. Alexandra Wesker is my sister, the current leader of the Syndicate."

"I will not repeat myself, Mr. Wesker." She stood her ground with a hard glare at his shaded eyes.

"I'm just here to catch up with a former employee of mine, is all..." Wesker smirked slightly, once again glancing over at Tobias across the room.

BOOM!

Tobias inhaled slowly through his nose, then released it just as slowly after holding it in for a moment, the barrel of The Beast smoking from his sudden shot to Wesker's forehead. He was wearing his leather longcoat, and with his arm now raised with the menacing magnum, his wolf buckle glinted in the low light, and the ammo belts for his signature revolvers were now on clear display. Only Fenrir wasn't currently visible, but they all knew it was there on his hip.

"Ah, you're using the Ragnarok rounds, I see..." Wesker had barely stumbled back a step from the gunshot, unconcerned about the shocked gasps from the Council members that could see his head reforming back to normal structural integrity, the fairly large entry hole sealing closed as the pieces from the back of his head barely even reached the floor behind him. "You still haven't found an upgrade or replacement for them?"

"Toby." Wick was luckily seated near Tobias, so he stood up and carefully placed his hand on top of The Beast's barrel, speaking in a level voice and calm tone. "I'm only going to say it once: Not here, not now. It's not over yet... It's just over for right now."

Tobias' normal eye proved that his gaze, narrowed into deadly slits, never left Wesker's face. But neither he, Wick nor Wesker said anything for another ten full seconds. Only after that did Tobias lower The Beast and slid it back into his holster.

Without a word, he walked around the table and right past his nemesis for a moment of tangibly hopeful silence, only for Tobias to stop near the door just as Wesker turned to face his back with a triumphant grin.

"You do know that she survived, right? There's no need to go back to your _Silence_..." Wesker taunted, just as Tobias held up his left hand, cutting off his sarcastic comment as the hologram projector collided with the side of his face, and went right into Tobias' awaiting hand.

" _I have nothing to say to you_." Tobias replied in a voice that seemed to darken the room itself, chilling them all to the bone with the menacing note that the words carried.

* * *

"Good morning ladies, we are live for another edition of Mommy Knows Best! For those of you just tuning in for the first time, this is a parenting and life management show hosted by our panel of experts, and callers can ask us whatever they need a second opinion or some assistance with their kids, from infants to teenagers! I'm your host Michelle, and our panel of experts is accompanied in the studio by our favourite celebrity guest, the literal hot momma herself, Rize Darkwood!"

"Ohayo, privjet, hello ladies. Been a while, hasn't it?" Rize smiled at the other women around her amidst the broadcasting equipment and microphones. "While we wait for the first caller, how're things since we last talked?"

"The boys joined boy scouts in September, they've been tying knots into anything flexible that they can get their hands on." The mother to Rize's right recounted about her twin sons, laughing at the last part.

"Practice makes perfect, as they say!" Michelle laughed as well. "Not just for your boys, eh?"

"Well, I'm no expert with knots myself, but I do know their book has the instructions on ho to tie the knots, and by logical deduction, the reverse process should be in there also." Another mother shrugged. "At least they're not at the learning to drive point like Carly is. Her first road test is tomorrow."

"Oh, don't remind me..." Rize sighed. "Yuuki's driving is too much like Toby's. I still remember her instructor's lecture to her after she failed her first attempt at getting her M license for her bike."

"First caller on the line, you're on the air! What's your name, and what's your question?" Michelle accepted the caller with a press of the line's button.

"Victoria, and my question is for Julia, how do you handle the boys making such a mess with the knots? My boys are going to be starting boy scouts soon as well, so I'd best be prepared ahead of them."

"First thing you do is get a copy of the handbook." Julia explained after a moment of chuckling. "Ignore the badges, the rules, all that stuff. Go straight for the section about the knots. Get more practice in before they do, and you win by default. After that, I'd recommend working alongside them as they learn from the handbook, make it a way to connect to them."

"Exactly! If they know you can do the knots yourself, you can show them how to do it, without resorting to phone chargers and power cables." Michelle agreed. "If you can, cement them into staying away from the bad habits long before they form."

"And don't forget about dad either, let the boys go camping with dad for a weekend, spend that time for yourself. They'll have a blast, you'll have some peace and quiet. Win-win!" Samantha's addition to the topic earned a laugh from everyone, including Victoria on the phone.

"Thank you, ladies! I'll make sure to do that!" Victoria bade them goodbye and hung up.

"Speaking of husbands..." Julia turned to Rize with a sly smile. "I hear your new book's inspired by you and Mr. Winter himself, care to share the details?"

Rize laughed at the tease. "Oh, now now, sharing a spoiler is still spoiling the story for everyone else!" She leaned her elbow on the table and took on a husky purr to her voice, speaking into her mic while staring seductively at Julia. "But I won't deny Toby had a hand in the... _inspiration_ for it."

All of the woman laughed, and a new caller came on the line, a man this time, James.

"My question is for everyone; As a single father, how do I keep up with running the house and still keeping my daughter happy?"

"It's not as difficult as you'd expect, James. Once you manage to get the house in order, the routine stuff becomes second nature, and you'll develop the skills you need over time. First, how old is your girl?" Michelle asked.

"She's fifteen."

"Ah, well, that's Rize and Laura's age bracket, teenagers are the ones that need the patience and trust of a parent." Michelle nodded in understanding, then turned to the two women taking a moment to think about their replies.

"It's a delicate balance of fun, firm, and friend when it comes to teenagers. You want to be there for them, but still need to discipline them when necessary, yet still spend time with them as a family." Laura began, still trying to think about her response. "Does your daughter have any particular interests? Hobbies that you two could do together?"

"She's really into music... but I don't know how to play any instruments." James' voice hinted slight shame and sadness, making Rize suddenly smirk at the line.

"May I ask about your wife? She was the one that got her into music, wasn't she?" Rize spoke gently, knowing insightfully that James' wife had died.

"Yeah, she taught our daughter everything she knows about music... Should I try to connect to her with music like my wife?"

"Don't just barrel down on this like a train. Start by just asking what she's listening to. Start small, build a foundation to base your relationship on." Rize explained. "Before I met Toby, I could barely sing scales. His love of music got me into at least learning the basics, and from that I connected to him even more when we would practice a mutually liked song, or when we both liked a new one we hadn't heard before. Once you and your daughter form that bond, I'd suggest learning to either sing or play a song that your wife and your daughter both really loved. Can you think of any that they did?"

"I think it's called Flower Dance... That's her favourite song she learned from her mother."

"I know that song, it's a beautiful piano piece." Rize smiled warmly, and that smile was audible in her voice. "So, if you can, try to learn the song on the piano, and surprise her with it after you get it just right. Okay? It's painful to lose a loved one, especially when you feel like nobody else can understand the connection that you shared with them. I think by doing this for her, she'll understand that you're still there with her, and that she's not alone."

"Thank you... I'll... I'll give it a listen right now. Thank you very much, Mrs. Darkwood." James bade them goodbye, and Rize let out a silent sigh, remembering the fateful day that Toby had showed up at the mansion back in Raccoon City with Alice's gun and T-Cells without saying a word ever again for over a year.

"Dayum lady, I got tears now." Michelle quickly blinked away the tears stinging at her eyes. "Oh, another caller! Name and question, you're on the air!"

"Alexandra, and my question is for Rize and Laura. I've got a teenage son, and he's really interested in a girl, but he doesn't know what to do or say to her about it. I don't know what advice to give him, I was wondering if you could give me some pointers."

Rize knew that damned woman's German accented voice almost immediately, and for a tiny moment her eyes flared dangerously with flickering red light. But thankfully none of the other women noticed because of her well-timed sip of coffee as Laura took the lead with answering the question.

"Well, first and foremost, tell him to just be honest to her. I think asking her in front of her friends, or with his friends behind him, is also a bad idea. Too much risk of embarrassment for both of them."

"Agreed. Rachael, one of my twin girls, actually had a boy do just that at the end of the summer. He'd met her with his friends while she was at work, but came back a couple days later to knock on our front door to ask her out for a coffee date. Now they've been together since then. Honesty is key, but if she doesn't return the boy's feelings, then he also needs to remember to let it go. It's just as difficult to ask out a girl as it is to accept a rejection and move on."

"I somehow get the feeling those aren't yours, Rize..." Michelle raised an eyebrow. "Who taught that little piece of wisdom to you? Was it Toby?"

"Actually, no. Yuuki taught Rachael that, and I _totally_ stole it from her!" Rize laughed. "Now, Alexandra, may I ask you to try teaching your son that speaking to a girl he likes isn't any different than speaking to one of his guy buddies? Have him do some practice lines with yourself, or in a mirror, to alleviate the awkwardness when he actually goes in for the real deal? Sound like you can do that?"

"Absolutely, thank you very much ladies." Alex Wesker hung up the phone, smirking at Zenith seated across from her, laughing silently. "What? I had to improvise."

"I'm laughing at how she just openly admitted that she stole her daughter's line." Zenith shook his head with a smirk, knowing damn full well that his mother had no idea that her 'improvised' scenario was completely on the money, especially that Rize had also openly stated that Rachael was dating his clone, now going by the name of Zen. The truth of the matter flew over her head 'like a Boeing 747', as the old saying went.

* * *

 **A/N: Notice how Toby only spoke once in this chapter? His comeback to Wesker fit the scene so well that I had writer's block for two days because I was just like "how the hell to I top that?! It was so good!" and HNTDS suggested I give Rize some attention with a talkshow (this one was radio, not TV) and I even managed to slide in some Syndicate meddling at the end.**


	45. Chapter 45

"You're not the only one known to be audacious, Tobias."

Tobias' face broke into a scowl at his cellphone levitating beside his ear while he cleaned dishes alongside Shiro, while Kuro was vaccuuming the living room.

Right away Shiro detected the shift in Tobias' body language, watching him carefully as she analyzed the voice on the line.

"If you haven't realized it yet, our fight hasn't ended even slightly since you left me riddled with seven hundred bullets and 18 grenade launcher shells worth of shrapnel."

"This isn't a fight, Wesker." Tobias growled.

"Oh? Do I detect another oneliner from you? Enlighten me. What would you call this? I want your life, Tobias. I want to end it and enjoy every second of doing so."

"If you just want my life, you clearly fail to see what I've made my life since I pumped you full of Quinque Steel on that day 19 years ago." Tobias laughed darkly. "My family is my life, so if you want my life, you have to fight for yours because none of us will back down. This thing between us... It's _war_. And we're all going to enjoy ending _your_ life. Far too much. Not just myself and Serenity with our sadistic natures, but also Alice, Rize, Kaneki, Mishka, Hinami, Natasha, Sir Andrew, Malcolm, Dakota, Javier, Victoria, Antonio, Stella, Jake, Motoko, Sherry, Yuuki, Rachael, Sheva, Valentine, Odin, Shiro, Kuro, Zen, Koko, Jonah, Lehm, Valmet, Wiley, R, Lutz, Tojo, Mao, Ugo, Wick and Rico too. We are all a family, all you have in comparison is your sister and her son. So if you can tell me that you can make the three of you into a happy little family in Berlin after the delusional little fantasy of killing all of us, then by all means... _you do you, boo-boo_."

"Quaint." Wesker taunted. "And yet you fail to see that my regenerative capabilities now rival your own."

"The problem with getting upgrades is learning what the hell was upgraded, Wesker." Shiro suddenly spoke up. "By what you just said, you fail to understand what was done to your body, and will likely not realize it until it is too late to fix it... or remove it."

"I survived the T-Virus, and I'm the original source of the C-Virus, every single strain that the BSAA has ever combatted in the past 19 years... I have them all, except for one..."

Shiro and Tobias shared a glance, instinctively going through a list of the known bioweaponry strains... and reached the same conclusion...

"You'll have to get through Yuuki - _again_ \- before you can even get anywhere near Sherry."

"Ah, but little Miss Sherry isn't the only one that carries the G-Virus, Tobias." Wesker laughed, low and dark. "Fame is a double-edged sword, wouldn't you say, William?"

"I know what you want from me... but not even _you_ could adapt to it in time, not with that volatile cocktail in your system already." William was audible in the line, making Tobias bare his teeth in rage.

"All I need is a taste. Pain shouldn't bother you, considering your regenerative capabilities, William."

Tobias heard William's body moving slightly, detecting a faint straining to indicate he was bound by handcuffs to something metallic, realizing he was leaning towards Wesker to be defiant.

"For Mother Russia... Cyka."

* * *

"He got me, Toby... Whatever he's done to himself is now complete with the G-Virus." William sighed. "You and I both know what this could turn into."

Tobias had arrived to find the Birkin house in slight disarray, evidence of the attack and following struggle. He knew before he'd left his own home that Wesker would be long gone by the time her arrived, so - in his terms, at least - he arrived unarmed, and by himself. The Twins and Silence were always on his person, so in actual terms he was only 'lightly' armed.

"So how'd it go down?" Tobias used his Telekinesis to sort out the mess while they talked, collecting anything damaged to be repaired.

"He knocked on the front door, I answered it. Took my by surprise and overpowered me by force." William explained. "I broke the cuffs, tried to fight him off, but he managed to bite into my arm and ran off."

"He bit you?" Tobias raised an eyebrow incredulously. "Seems strange that he'd do that..." Tobias stopped talking for a moment, and William nodded knowingly.

"He turned himself into a Ghoul."

"Fuck." Tobias sighed. "Need any help cleaning up?"

"I can handle the rest. You go call it in. I'll let Sherry and Annette know what happened."

"I'll need to check one thing before I go." Tobias reached into his suit jacket and produced a new prototype given to him by Valentine. It was a smaller version of the sonar system that the T-15's used, a monocle-style visor connected to a handheld scanner by a short cable. "Virus scanner, it's loaded with our main database for the genetic struture of all known bioweaponry strains we've encountered in the BSAA."

"I see the reasoning, go for it." William nodded, watching Tobias put the lens over one eye and aimed the scanner at him, immediately earning a quick beeping noise.

"You're good. Just G-Virus." Tobias replied to William's expectant expression. "He didn't infect you with anything from that bite."

* * *

"Now, Mr. Darkwood, you promised us that your ship would be airborne within six months, and you've yet to launch as promised." Donald Trump, the Congressman that had attempted to give Valentine grief during his proposal for the Nightfall's budget in April, spoke with a noticeable note of cocky pride in his voice as he addressed Valentine's full-colour hologram being projected at the podium, both of them standing with their arms crossed over their chests.

"Don't even try to pick a fight with me, I can just as easily aim those 18 railguns at your damn wig as I can at a B.O.W research facility." Valentine's tone silenced Trump immediately. "I have withheld launching the Nightfall due to a recent breach of security, attempted sabotage, and this little thing called 'school' has been heavily occupying my time."

"Should have thought of that before you started..." Trump held up his right hand, pinching his index and thumb pointedly. "I believe this whole ship fiasco has cost America more than it should've in the first place, and that we should relinquish the rights to it over to the Air Force..."

"Best of luck to you when you try to get it airborne. Without me, it's not budging an inch, and last time I checked, you can't lift 187,500 metric tonnes of metal by yourself."

"You've been rather tight-lipped about what you mean by the ship requires you to personally launch it. Now would be a good time to explain what that entails." Another Congressman stood up, speaking calmly, but was clearly remaining neutral between the slight duel between Valentine and Trump.

"I control magnetism, the ship is powered by a magnetic power source. Without me, you'd need to generate enough electricity to power a small city in the span of eight seconds, all done with a giant magnet or a turbine, to kickstart a Magno-Core of that size. That Core, by the way, is a fifteen foot wide sphere." Valentine explained. "I won't deny it's possible to fire one up without me... You just need a lot more power than you'd think to do it."

"I thought you said these Cores of yours are self-sustaining?" Trump challenged with his eyebrows raised arrogantly after he'd rolled his eyes during Valentine's reply.

"They are. I never said they didn't need a swift kick in the ass to begin producing that amount of power, now did I?" Valentine replied to the non-verbal taunting by suddenly laughing. "If powered for four minutes, that size of Magno-Core exceeds the initial charge required to start up. In one hour of activity, it requires the energy it produces in just 12 minutes. Do the math, if you want. My point is they don't just start by flipping a switch like you seem to think."

"And what about that breach of security you mentioned?" The same Congressman asked.

"Unfortunately that's not my jurisdiction to comment upon. You'll have to inquire through proper channels within the BSAA to discuss that in any form. All I can say is that it was handled by our own personnel and repairs were conducted for what little damage was inflicted upon the ship." Valentine replied with a smoothly cocky glance at Trump's angry scowl. "So, I will launch the Nightfall within my originally declared six-month schedule, which is coincidentally a week after my older sisters' birthday. So, you can expect a courtesy fly-over the White House on Remembrance Day. Any further complains will be silenced now, as I said earlier, I have other matters that unfortunately occupy a majority of my time. You will receive an update when I feel you require one. Do svidaniya, Congress. Madame President." Valentine curtly nodded to the room at large, then much more respectfully bowed his head at the President herself, since she was standing a few steps away from his hologram at the podium. With her small smile and a nod of her own, the hologram flickered and disconnected completely.

At the other end of the country, Valentine let out a large sigh through his nose, just like Tobias did when he wasn't amused by something.

"I should've realized that orange spray-tanned blonde jackass was a Syndicate puppet sooner..." Valentine scowled as he stepped out of the hologram projector's broadcasting bay and hurried straight back to his beloved ship. "I probably should give him a personal railgun broadside, now that I think about it... Right Acidika?" Valentine stared at **me** pointedly, smirking. "Sere and my sisters aren't the only ones that've picked up on Dad's ability to break the Fourth Wall, you know."


	46. Chapter 46

"So what's this thing gonna do to me again?" Sheva asked, staring at the device that Valentine was showing her. She wasn't sure about the idea, so she wanted to hear him explain it again.

"This is a DNI, or a direct neural interface, a transponder that Motoko and Stella helped me come up with. It's augmentation for you and Rico to have more fluid communication both in and out of combat. As you can clearly guess, it's going to be installed via surgery. Yes, it can be removed afterwards, it's not like a cyborg's cyberbrain. At all. I made absolutely certain that was the case when I developed it."

"I presume that he's already fitted you for your half of this?" Sheva asked Rico, who was standing in his nearby bay in the Nightfall's hangar deck.

"Not yet. I would be required to be close by during the surgery process, to actually initiate the neural link between us. From my understanding, Valentine also wishes to perform a full upgrade to your right arm, which would logically happen at the same time."

"My arm?" Sheva glanced at her metal hand, then up at Valentine warily. "What the hell are you planning?"

"Parts replacement, and I need to replace the internal power system with a Magno-Core in the bicep. The existing bio-electricity system isn't going to perform as well with the DNI, if you want to go ahead with it."

"You just want to tinker, don't you?" Sheva teased.

"I would say yes if it wasn't already completely finished. It's so straightforward of a replacement that you could do it yourself after disconnecting your arm from your shoulder." Valentine chuckled at the jab. "If not, me and Motoko will do that to your arm while the surgery happens for you and Rico."

"Speaking of which, how will that be done? Rico mentioned he needs to be close by... How close are we talking here?"

"My central core would suffice as is, and you were present when it was installed in my cockpit. My core would initially need to be within fifteen feet of the transponder when it is installed. If I were to stand as is, at full size, my sensor array would extend the initial linking range to fifty feet. Any further would reduce the percentages of success due to weakening the signal pulse generated by your DNI upon activation."

"How far would we be able to communicate after it's done?"

"Anywhere within Jormungand's reach. Your communications would be handled by Jormungand's satellite network, so you can literally be on opposite sides of the planet and still have perfect signal to each other."

"So the relay signal to the satellites is why my arm needs the Magno-Core, isn't it?" Sheva understood now. "So what way do you want to do the link, Rico?"

"Uninstalling my central core would cause no defects or errors to my systems, and since you will be the one to participate in the surgery for obvious reasons, I think it is a logical conclusion to extract my core and carry it into the operating room yourself, ensuring optimal success rates and assurances. My hull would remain inert unless manual control is engaged by you from within my cockpit, or my core is reinstalled, thus forcing a full system check and reactivation."

"Can you still gather any intel when you're just the core?"

"No. I would require the minimum of some sort of auditory input and output devices to be connected to my core for any form of communication. Think of it as me being asleep, in biological terms. Only you neural-linking to me would wake me up."

"So when can we get this done?" Sheva nodded, finally comfortable with receiving the augmentation and upgrades.

"You pop out his core, I'll call Motoko and the cyberbrain technicians we spoke with to perform the surgery. You'll be back on your feet in time for dinner."

"What about the surgery part? Stitches and all that crap."

"Remember how I said it's removable?" Valentine smirked. "It's like Stella's augmentations on her spine, she was up on her feet in a few hours after the surgery. She was how I came up with this design in the first place. It's attached to the back of your head and the upper part of your neck. A single cable will be inserted under the skin of your shoulder with a guider probe, and it'll connect to the baseplate for your arm, and of course to the Magno-Core inside your bicep. Minimal poking and cutting, couple of stitches wouldn't even be necessary. After that, just learn how to use it and you'll be good to go."

"And if I ever needed to yank it off?"

"It'd hurt like a bitch, as the saying goes." Rico replied as he opened his armoured canopy and then the underlying hatch for the cockpit, reaching inside with his index finger and thumb, withdrawing his central core and holding it out to the pair since they were standing on the gangway in front of his bay. "This comment is recorded before I removed my core; I promise that I shall greet you when we are linked, Sheva. Until then, for once I will be the one in your hands."

* * *

"Mind if I ask you a question, Val?" Motoko asked while they two of them fluidly upgraded Sheva's removed arm with the compact Magno-Core and replacement parts while two doctors stood nearby, waiting to take the upgraded limb back to the operating theater to reconnect it to Sheva's shoulder and use the guider probe to connect her DNI to the awaiting socket hidden within the bicep.

"Sure, what's up?" Valentine nodded.

"Why not give Sheva a normal cyberbrain, and add the DNI to the existing electronics in that?"

"Not enough power to broadcast the signal." Valentine replied. "I have nothing against cyberbrains, it just doesn't have enough power to generate the signal strength I wanted them to have."

"And on that note, can this link between Rico and Sheva be hacked at all?"

"It's not exactly easy to determine the signal itself, since it's biological impulses translated to binary code, and the reverse, respectively. That's why I asked Koko to help. But I won't say it's not possible to get ahold of the signal."

"And what was the projected strain on Rico's core's processing power?"

"Fifteen percent, at the worst. Five at best. We'd have to ask him after we get his core back into his hull."

"What's his highest peak?"

"9.3 percent. That was apparently during the ambush at the shipyard."

With that, they were finished with the upgrades, and both nodded to the doctors waiting for them. But, neither of them wasted a moment just waiting on things, so they quickly followed the doctors right into the operating theater, since they were already wearing the required scrubs and masks to be present to observe.

Sheva was already finished receiving the DNI, and not even five feet away, on a folding metal chair, was Rico's central core, in plain view with no obstructions between him and her. Rather cheekily placed atop was Sheva's glasses.

With ease, the arm was reconnected to Sheva's awaiting baseplate, locking into place in mere seconds as the probe was set along the preprogrammed route under her skin, dragging behind it the short cable that would signal the end of the whole surgery process.

"Are we to expect any sudden reactions when the probe connects the cable to the socket?" One of the technicians asked Valentine, who shook his head.

"Not that I am aware of. But that doesn't mean I wouldn't consider them possible."

"Ten seconds." The doctor tracking the probe reported, and all of them took a step back, especially away from the designated no-man's-zone between Sheva and Rico's core. "Five. Four. Three. Two... One..."

Sheva slowly opened her eyes, expectedly blurry without her glasses, but her face broke into a relieved smile as she sighed to the crystal clear, but very cheeky words from Rico that only she could hear.

" _Pilot located... Greetings, Sheva_."

* * *

 **A/N: I wanted to have Rico's greeting to Sheva be something more smartass or cheeky, but I decided to use his first ever quote towards her, which is from Chapter 32 when he went from being called 'the mech' to his full identity as it is now. Also, for those of you that are wondering what Rico's hull is designed like, it's very obvious that he's based on the Titans in Titanfall 2. In particular, Rico resembles an Ion overall, but has the large bulky legs of Legion, with Scorch's shoulders, Northstar's jet engines (with some also on the backs of his 'shins') and - as mentioned earlier in the story, he has a head, not just a cockpit like the Titans - his head itself is shaped like Scorch's cockpit, with the 'eyeball' in the same spot in the middle. His head can turn and look around at will, it isn't locked in position like a Titan's cockpit. The armoured canopy that covers the hatch for his cockpit is retractable secondary armour meant to specifically protect the cockpit. Also a reminder, he's 39 feet tall, and Titans are about 20 - 25 feet.**


	47. Chapter 47

"Yo." Stella giggled the moment Yuuki had opened her eyes. "Sup sexy?"

"What?" Yuuki took a moment to realize that Stella was straddling her stomach with that tell-tale glint in her eyes that Yuuki knew so damn well. "How'd you get in here?"

"Front door. Rize let me in." Stella replied. "Got a little problem that needs your help."

"And what's that?"

"You are hereby under arrest, and will be escorted for processing." With fluid movements and a sudden ratcheting of handcuffs, Stella had Yuuki's hands bound and hauled her to her feet, keeping a firm grip on her upper arm. "On the charges of being of legal age for sexual consent, excessive sex appeal, and sleeping in on your birthday."

"I'm innocent of all those charges." Yuuki challenged, smirking at Stella behind her, but well aware that the cuffs were made of Titanium. Sneaky little shit thought ahead and knew she'd need to put some effort into breaking them.

"That's what they all say~!" Stella replied, already leading Yuuki out into the hall, just as Rachael rolled over on their bed to catch a glimpse of the cheeky roleplay that had woken her up.

She laughed very slightly, but let out a sigh and knew she wouldn't be going back to sleep after that. She got up and grabbed her phone to check the time, just as she received a text from Zen.

 _Happy birthday babe, did you sleep well?_

 _Just got up. Stella dragged Yuuki out of our room in handcuffs and woke me up._

 _Handcuffs?_

 _Stella's a former member of Public Security Section 9 back in Japan. Basically a type of cop._

 _Ah, that makes a bit more sense now. Do you have any plans for what to do for today? I'm almost at your house, just grabbing you a coffee at the moment._

 _Since Yuuki's off being arrested, I wouldn't mind spending it with you. I'll see you when you get here, I'll let my parents know you're coming. You can just walk it, don't worry about knocking._

 _Thanks, I'll be there in a few minutes. Love you._

 _Love you too._

With that, Rachael leaned out into the hall and asked aloud. "Mom? Dad? You here?"

"Just mom! What's up Rachael?" Rize called from her office down the hall.

"Zen's coming to pick me up in a few minutes, since somebody got caught being sexy in front of two cybercops." Rachael replied cheekily.

"Alright, you two have fun. Don't forget that we're going to be celebrating your birthday after you both get home." Rize came out of her office with a pen tucked behind her ear, giving her daughter a hug. "Happy birthday, your father's the one that came up with that whole game for Stella and Motoko to 'arrest' Yuuki like that. So I should apologize for waking you up like that, I did let her in, after all."

"S'alright, Zen's text would've woken me up anyway." Rachael returned the hug, well aware that Rize had throttled her Pyrokinesis a lot just to make the hug feel comfortably warm, plus not dehydrate her either.

Zen arrived just as Rachael finished getting dressed, connecting the last few hook & eye clasps for her corset as he knocked on her door and pushed it open. He had a coffee cup in each hand, but one was also cheekily adorned by a red ribbon tied around it in a bow, making her smile at the gesture.

"Guten morgen." He greeted her by flashing his precious little smile, reserved just for her, as she accepted the coffee and gave him a kiss.

"Ohay..." Rachael began, only to realize that Zen hadn't come alone. " _Oh_."

"If I told you how difficult it was to get here, you wouldn't believe me." Zenith's own smile was just as precious as Zen's was, and it was in full view as Rachael's jaw dropped at the sight of another, bigger, red bow that was sticking to Zenith's forehead, more than likely from Zen on the way here. "Happy birthday, Rachael."

* * *

"So you're Zenith." Tobias held out his hand for the older looking of the two young men standing in from of him. "How'd you get this past your mother and father?"

"Another clone." Zenith accepted the friendly handshake, knowing that Tobias' BSAA uniform was simply because he'd come directly from the base when Rize called him back home after he'd greeted Rize himself. "Clone and I arranged for a car accident to happen, but ironically he and my mother were driving together and actually got hit by a drunk driver. She survived, he didn't."

"How recent was this?" Tobias raised an eyebrow.

"Four days ago. She's still in the hospital, and to my knowledge my father heard about it from her by phone. He's been off doing Syndicate crap in Russia for the past week."

"Isn't your mom prosthetic like Motoko?" Rachael asked as she sipped her coffee, the red bow from Zenith's forehead was now tied into her hair, and her cup still had the ribbon firmly in place.

"Not completely, she's only 35%." Zen shook his head. "Neither of us have cyberbrains, we're pure squishy, as Stella would say."

"So, Zenith... How do you plan to account for Syndicate recon centered on everyone in our Family?" Tobias put his hands on his hips.

"If I told you I have a plan for that, would you believe me?" Zenith asked with a raised eyebrow.

"I'd ask what that plan is, actually."

"Firstly, I plan to dye my hair. Second, a visit to Serenity, third, a new wardrobe. And lastly, dropping my surname in favour of the one Zen here uses. Stein."

"And what about your first name?"

"Not bothering. You're not the only one that wants to see those two Weskers taken down. It took me too long to realize they were the ones in the wrong, you've been right since before Raccoon City."

"I appreciate that, but I haven't been right about everything." Tobias smirked, then held out his hand again. "I have to get back to the base, but you're one of us now... Welcome to the Family." They shook hands again. "And as for you..." Tobias turned his gaze towards Rachael with a sudden smirk as she was dragged towards him through the air into a one armed hug. "Happy birthday, Rachael, my Princess."

* * *

Rachael went back to Zen's apartment with the brothers, where a duffel bag laying on the couch gave away that Zenith came here. But, another bag - a shopping bag - caught her eye and she tilted her head slightly and noticed that it had the hair dye that Zenith mentioned.

"How old are you again, Zenith?" Rachael picked up the box of dye with a small snicker.

"Twenty four." Zenith replied, watching her examining the box of dye with a smirk on her face.

"And did you think to get the proper dye to deal with your own hair colour?"

"I'm beginning to think I made a mistake with that dye..." Zenith chuckled slightly.

"You did." Rachael turned back to him, running her hand through his very blonde hair. "Your hair is like, super blonde. Worthy of blonde jokes, actually. This hair dye's way too dark for you. Trust me, I've helped Stella with her hair, and Touka a couple times. Let's head back to the store for a different shade, alright? Then we'll have some fun with this hair of yours."

"Why do I sense an ulterior motive?" Zen smirked from behind them, shaking his head slightly.

"I had an idea recently about me and Yuuki." Rachael nodded. "See, back when Yuuki just had the T-Virus in her, she tried more than once to dye her hair black, but it failed every time. Our hair, Dad's and Val's all have this thing that just rejects hair dye. Mom's hair, funnily enough, was dyed when she got her T-Virus, so it adapted her hair from her natural dark brunette to what it is now, which is y'know. Purple. And Uncle Kaneki's hair used to be black when he was my age, but he was tortured and suffered Marie Antoinette Syndrome, so his hair turned white and his nails are jet black. That's not nail polish, believe it or not."

"So... the C-Virus..." Zenith nodded in understanding.

"Exactly. Me and Yuuki can eat anything we want now, so that made me think that our hair won't reject hair dye anymore. And if it does, then fuck it, we tried. We'll have our Senpai Sparkles forever."

"Senpai Sparkles?" Both brothers hadn't heard that one before.

"Oh, right..." Rachael realized that the old joke was new to them. "Well, in anime there's this trope that any Senpai character, which is the Japanese honourific for 'upperclassman', has these... sparkles all around them when other characters look at them. Here, gimme a sec to show you." She pulled out her phone and started searching for a video she'd saved specifically for that very thing. "Here, see how he's all sexy and fabulous? Those are what I'm talking about."

"I think I understand now." Zen laughed at the short clip of Tamaki from Ouran High School Host Club. "So what colour do you want to try?"

"I also want Yuuki in on this, so I'm gonna grab pink and cyan for us to work with." Rachael put her phone back into her pocket. "Let's get going."

* * *

"Can you get your face out of Stella's cooch for like, five seconds so I can talk to you? Fuck, Yuuki!" Rachael grumbled in Japanese to her sister over the phone, annoyed by her obvious level of distraction.

"Motoko's cock, actually. So what's this about hair dye?" Yuuki countered, giggling at some sort of tickling coming from Stella.

"I had an idea, you're my lab rat before I try it on myself." Rachael replied, moving a few paces in the store lineup with the brothers comparing the boxes of dye that she'd selected for them.

"You do know our hair rejects dye, right? Dad and Val too."

"They don't have the C-Virus." Rachael replied pointedly. And Yuuki was silent for a a full four seconds, clearly catching onto the theory.

"So what colour are you sticking on my head?"

"Which one do you want? I got pink and cyan."

"Y'wanna do our eyes, or our outfit colours?"

"Got any coins?" Rachael knew she was being cheeky with the question.

"You called me when I was in the middle of deepthroating Motoko, you fuckin' smartass. If I had any coins it'd be even weirder sex than we're used to."

"So I'll just hang onto it and throw one at you when I get home, sound good?" Rachael laughed.

"A literal 'fuck it, just chuck it'? Fine by me. Now if you don't mind, I have some cyborgs that need to satisfy me. You enjoy banging your Germans, alright?"

"I believe I shall. Have fun~!" Rachael hung up and chuckled at her sister's antics. The brothers easily picked up on the playful tone, despite the language barrier, and both smirked at her as she slid her phone back into her pocket. "She's enjoying herself... and the Kusanagi's." She explained as they moved up in line again.

"Somehow that doesn't surprise me." Zen nodded knowingly. And of course, Zenith chuckled.

* * *

"So since your sister is clearly having a good time, why the bloody hell are you running errands on your birthday?" Zenith asked when they were walking back into the brothers' apartment.

"Because I had an idea and needed a ride." Rachael smiled as she dropped her jacket on a chair at the small table. "Now then... I know I stashed it here, Zen, shall we at least get ourselves a drink before I go run off with another science experiment idea?"

"I like the idea of sitting still for a few seconds, but what the hell was stashed here that I don't know about?" Zenith raised an eyebrow after glancing at his brother's smug expression.

"Rachael stashed a bottle of Jaegermeister and some blood here. Apparently it's really good, but hey, I'm just going by hers and Yuuki's word on the combination." Zen shrugged. "It's still in the freezer, on the right side." He pointed at the nearby fridge, since Rachael was the closest anyway.

"Trust me, best description is 'liquid sex'." Rachael explained as she opened the freezer door and produced the bottle of booze and a full blood bag in each hand. "Yuuki came up with it as a joke, but it tasted fucking glorious, so we named it just that. Liquid Sex."

"And how does it taste for non-Ghouls?" Zenith asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Like blood and Jaegermeister." Rachael shrugged. "It's just something we came up with since we're able to enjoy both the booze and the blood."

"I'd try a shot to see for myself." Zen shrugged. "Won't kill me, since it's medical blood after all."

"Fifty bucks a bag from the blood bank across the city." Rachael set out three shot glasses on the counter. And the smoothness of her actions easily gave away her job as a bartender, pouring the three shots of the booze, then added the blood to two of them. "You sure you want it straight? Whole bag of blood."

"I'll have my first one straight." Zenith shook his head slightly.

"Alright, fair enough. It's pretty simple to mix: Half and half." Rachael shrugged, wisely putting the entire bag worth into a spare pitcher that was set aside on the counter. "Here y'go, boys!" She smoothly slid the respective glasses to the boys, then held up her own with a grin as they accepted their drinks, even awkwardly attempting to repeat her 'Itadakimasu!', which earned a giggle for the efforts. "You two are so cute..." She shook her head slightly before downing the shot with a throaty moan of satisfaction. "And I am going to have to get a bigger glass... Them's the good shit!" She did just that, pouring herself a more generous glass of Liquid Sex as the Zen finished cringing at his.

"That's definitely an acquired taste." Zen coughed once, blinking several times as Zenith chuckled beside him.

"A promise is a promise." Zenith smirked, pouring his first shot of Liquid Sex as Rachael sat on the couch to let the alcohol set in. He downed it, cringing just like Zen had done. "Shit..." He coughed, growling slightly to clear his throat.

"Heh heh heh... More for me~!" Rachael laughed to herself, holding her glass with just the pads of her fingers as she used her other hand to turn on the TV, which just so happened to be the start of the Ghost In The Shell movie from two years earlier, when Yuuki first met Motoko and Stella at the premier. "Oh, fuckin' sweet, I haven't actually seen this for myself, what with the way Stella and Yuuki make so many damn references to it."

"I haven't seen it either, as hard as that may be to believe." Zenith seemed to be interested in watching the apparently familiar movie to her, so they sat on either side of her with their drinks refilled sans blood.

"You two are in for _quite_ a surprise." Rachael grinned knowingly, since she had the genetic memories from when Yuuki saw it with Jake.


	48. Chapter 48

"Mom... I thought you kept your Pyro in check with, what... twenty years of experience?" Yuuki and Rachael both facepalmed at the very harsh scent of the burnt cake that was sitting on the counter like a mockery of a trophy.

"Y'know, believe it or not, I _tried_ to make that. I didn't buy it." Rize had expected the girls to give her a hard time about her disaster attempt to make their birthday cake. "And yes, I did have to snuff out the fucker when it ignited."

"Have you even cooked in your whole life?"

"... No." Rize averted her gaze, clearly embarrassed. "You do know that I'm like Mishka, right? Born a Ghoul, unlike your father, Alice, Kaneki and Sere."

"So are we. We still took classes." Yuuki continued, indicating Rachael, who was stifling her giggles. "Doesn't mean we're gonna let this one slide anytime soon."

"That's why I'm here~!" Natasha commented from the table around the corner of the L shaped kitchen. "New one's gonna be finished in about 15 minutes."

"You gave Mom an earful about the cake too, Natasha?" Yuuki asked, a knowing expression on her face as the buxom redhead came around the corner with a smirk on her face.

"Oh absolutely, dear. I was tempted to just keep the ruined one as the actual cake for the night, but I think since it's your 18th, you should have a real cake. Or you could have both... I mean, it's _your_ birthday."

"Sorry mom, you done goofed this one." Rachael snickered, which earned a flaming middle finger from Rize as she sipped some coffee.

* * *

"So tell me... How does it feel to be legally an adult?" Tobias smirked as his daughters and human friends enjoyed the excellently baked birthday cake that Natasha made. The Ghouls, himself included, however, were enjoying their usual human flesh.

"Feels like it's the fourth of November." Yuuki replied with a cheekful of cake. "Guess it hasn't really sunk in yet."

"Means we're allowed to legitimately go onto porn sites, and we're allowed to do pretty much whatever we want on our streams." Rachael smirked.

"Hey, I have a harem, no porn sites for me." Yuuki pointed at herself with her thumb. "And you have twin German brothers all for yourself, right boys?" She tilted her head slightly towards the eldest and youngest of Wesker's sons seated on the floor beside the couch.

"I mean, you two aren't the only twins that have eyes for each other..." Zen's eyes twinkled teasingly, earning gasps of surprise and laughter from everyone, since the sisters were actually infamous for their own incest.

"Oh my god I get my own personal yaoi show whenever I want!" Rachael was perhaps expectantly excited about the claim.

"Now boys... don't take it too far, she can only handle so much excitement." Yuuki laughed at the excited flush all over Rachael's face. "And besides, you two had her all day. Let me have a turn!"

"And you just said she can only handle so much excitement..." Odin chuckled.

"I can handle her and her shenanigans. And a certain purple sex toy..." Rachael nudged Yuuki's arm with a smirk. "And it's no far stretch to say it's also gonna see some action in the very near future too."

"Not if I have anything to say about it." Yuuki countered the nudge with one of her own. "I might have something else planned for you and me, after that stream we've got planned as soon as we're done with cake."

"You're streaming? tonight?" Rize raised an eyebrow curiously.

"We're already plastered all over the internet today because it's our birthday. Might as well do it our damn self." Yuuki pointed at her nearby phone on the coffee table. "Besides, I may or may not have impulsively bought us a new game I found on sale..."

"Something tells me I should be keeping an eye on you two for this stream..." Tobias' Tyrant Eye's eyebrow arched particularly high at the tone his oldest daughter had just used. "What game?"

"Not telling! It's a surprise!" Yuuki smiled knowingly, then her free hand shot out to snatch her phone as it started to levitate into the air, catching it in a flash. " _HEY_!"

"I know what game it is~!" Motoko and Stella had been there when Yuuki bought it with her phone's mobile Steam app, so Stella chuckled at the antics. "And I think I might head home early so I can settle myself in for the show ahead of time."

"I set it to start downloading when I bought it, so it should be almost done by now..." Yuuki checked the Steam app on her phone with one hand. "You've got 12 minutes before it starts installing. And knowing Bertha and Max, it'll be done in about 20 more minutes after that."

"So we can stay for another fifteen minutes, sweet! More cake please!" Stella scooped up her empty plate and moved to get herself another piece. "Hun, you too?"

"If there's enough, sure." Motoko smiled slightly as she passed over her plate as well. "So, girls, I do have to ask something that recently came to my attention about the site."

"Oh, you mean when someone tried to hack us and it locked itself down to boot the fucker out?" Rachael asked, since that had indeed happened earlier that week during the first few minutes of a stream while they were still greeting everyone and talking about the planned structure of the stream.

"I designed it to do that if someone, including myself, managed to get past the six defense barriers. So if it's alright, could I do some maintenance on the site to make sure nothing malicious got through the attack barrier layer?"

"Sure thing... did you happen to figure out who did it?" Yuuki asked, and that also happened to get Tobias' attention.

"Your father and I already tracked them down." Motoko smirked knowingly. "It's up to him about what to do after all that's said and done."

"Are they local?"

"Yes." Tobias nodded once.

"Are they Syndicate?"

"Nope."

"Are they hot?"

"Unfortunately not." Motoko shook her head.

"We'll go in the morning." Yuuki and Rachael shared a glance before nodding in agreement at the sudden idea they both had. "But now... video games await!" They both were now donw eating their cake and held up their empty plates before spinning on their heels to saunter into the kitchen to put the plates away. On the way back out they both grabbed a blood bag and a bottle of jaegermeister before heading upstairs to begin the preparations to livestream.

"Time to wrap up and head out." Stella glanced longingly at her cake, but knew she wouldn't have to worry about it going to waste. "See you guys in the chat when we get home."

While everyone was doing the last of the wandering and chatter, Sheva wandered upstairs with a slight smile tugging at her lips as she knocked on the twins' door and poked her head inside.

"Sup Sheva?" Yuuki noticed her smiling at them and seemed slightly suspicious.

"Rico wanted to tell you something himself." Sheva pointed at the big TV on the wall that they used for a shared monitor. "Alright, go for it big guy."

With that, the TV turned on by itself, showing Rico's full height from what appeared to be a drone hovering inside of his hangar bay, and he turned his attention to the camera as he held one hand up and curled his middle and ring fingers to do the metal horns gesture that the twins were well known to use.

" _Happy birthday ladies. I apologize for the lateness, I wasn't able to isolate a signal for a device capable of receiving this particular file format_."

"Fuckin' eh!" Yuuki returned the metal horns with vigour. "Thanks big guy!" Both sisters thanked the mech at the same time.


	49. Chapter 49

"You sure know how to make things interesting, Val." Tobias chuckled at the view of the crowd gathered to witness the long awaited launch of the Nightfall, early in the morning of November 11th, where the maiden voyage was to fulfill a two-fold promise that Valentine had made to fly over two particular structures; the first being his school to Serenity, and the other, more official-political one, which was the White House in Washington DC for the Remembrance Day celebrations taking place there.

"Two words: Flying. Battleship." Val replied as everyone else standing with the two of them, the members of the Nightfall's crew, chuckled at the comment. "Now, who's the one that's gonna give the speech this time?"

"That would be me, with a little pomp and circumstance that Rico requested to do, 'his way' as he'd worded it. You might like his idea, trust me." Tobias replied with a smirk, since everyone but himself and the mech didn't know what that idea happened to be. "Alright, I think it's time for a little crowd control and grandstanding." Tobias then nodded for Valentine to join everyone else in stiff formation behind the awaiting podium, all dressed in crisp BSAA formal uniforms, each adorned with their official rankings and the brand new black patch on their arms to signify that they were the crew of the Nightfall. Only Sheva wasn't present in the group, which Valentine knew at least that much was part of Rico's apparent 'idea'.

The crowd of media and civilians, as well as many BSAA personnel themselves, fell quiet as Tobias' tall frame approached the podium and brought with him a complete devotion of attention.

"Today marks a crowning achievement in the fight against bioterror. No longer will the ship you see behind me stay idle on the ground. Today is the day that it will become an active BSAA asset, ready for action at a moment's notice." He began as he scanned the crowd by slowly turning his head from left to right as cameras clicked and several camera drones idly hovered a few feet over their heads. "To those uninformed, this is the Nightfall, the first of it's kind, a battleship capable of not only ocean travel... but direct VTOL flight. Yes, that's right. It's not just a big boat... It's a big FLYING boat. Designed for the purpose of ridding the world of bioterrorism, including to directly combat large-scale B.O.W threats that are beyond the capabilities of our usual infantry based methodology."

Tobias paused for a moment, placing his hands onto the sides of the podium to let the curious murmurs die back down before he continued his speech. "Alongside the ship and the crew you see standing behind me, the Nightfall includes an additional affiliate, who will be joining us shortly to give the official launch's traditional naval blessing. As we await word from them, we have time for only a few short questions, either for myself or the Nightfall's commanding officer, my son, Captain Valentine Darkwood."

With that several of the media - located at the front near the stage itself - began clamoring with questions as Valentine stepped towards the podium to stand beside his father, then pointed out a reporter at random.

"Jen Constant, New York Times. For Captain Valentine, there's an unconfirmed report that the Nightfall is expected to participate in the Remembrance Day fly-over tradition in Washington DC later today, could you verify this information?"

Valentine approached the microphone and imitated Tobias' previous pose with his hands on the edge of the podium. "This information is correct. As part of the political involvement with Congress and the President, I did indeed declare that the Nightfall would participate in the fly-over the White House during a meeting with Congress in October."

"William Hollard, independent reporter. Are the Nightfall's specifications permitted to be announced? Such as dimensions and armaments?"

Tobias placed a hand onto Val's shoulder, a very subtle action, taking the question instead. "Until such a time when a meeting to specifically discuss disclosing such information is held, that information is presently unavailable to the public beyond the most basic of numbers and names, such as dimensions and direct images of the ship."

"Last question, Rico's almost ready." Tobias whispered into Val's ear as Valentine pointed to the next reporter.

"Valerie Brown, also independent. Is it true that the Nightfall's home port is here in Los Angeles, yet the ship is not bound by the auspices of the United States Air Force?"

"That is correct. The ship is based here in this very shipyard, but is able to conduct operations all around the globe, acting out of the nearest BSAA base to the operation zone. Now, that is all for questions at this time, the affiliate that was previously mentioned is now ready to perform the traditional navy blessing. The crew of the Nightfall are to report to their stations aboard the ship immediately." Tobias spoke into the microphone as the sound of heavy thudding reached their ears over the clicking cameras and low conversations. "I now wish to present to you, Cherub Class BSAA-NF01, Rico. And his pilot, Staff Sergeant Sheva Alomar-Darkwood."

Awkward applause broke out as the crew left the stage and out of sight, only for another sight to appear from around the side of the Nightfall's bow, which was Rico himself as he carried a comically over sized bottle of champagne in both hands.

"Greetings, I am Cherub Class BSAA-NF01, otherwise known as Rico." He introduced himself as he placed the big bottle onto the concrete, while also opening his armour plating and the underlying cockpit to reveal Sheva inside, who stood up and waved her metal arm while she lifted her T-15's mask away from her face.

"In accordance to navy tradition, I hereby bless this ship in all of her voyages and battles." Sheva's voice spoke in place of Rico's from his external speakers as she sat back down in the cockpit and lifted the champagne bottle into one hand by the neck, then swung it against the nearby bow with a splash of booze and carefully aimed glass chunks crashing against the concrete out of harms way, earning loud applause from the crowds as more and more pictures were taken before the pair gave firm salutes - Rico himself, and Sheva with the same arm from inside the still opened cockpit - before heading back around the side of the ship as the entire shipyard began to fill with the sounds and slight rumble of the Nightfall beginning to launch.

Up in the command deck, everyone was ready to go, watching as Rico used his Boosters to rise over the side of the ship - in the crowd's blindspot, of course - and gave a thumbs up to the command deck to let them know they were clear for launch.

"Nightfall, standing by for launch. On your call, Val!" Alice reported from her station beside Koko and Tojo.

"Launching!" Valentine announced, already easing the lift control as the ship began to slowly rise into the air, maintaining a level trim as the shipyard shrank below them. "Alright, first things first, the local fly-over that I promised you, Sere. My school!"

"Plotting route with low altitude for visibility, then our main route to DC will be right after we pass over the school." Rize reported from her own station with Kaneki. "Course is set, let's go!"

And with that, the Nightfall flew through the air, a sleek and menacing battleship that drew the gazes of almost every LA citizen as it smoothly moved through the sky. And when it reached Valentine's school, it smoothly dipped low enough to cast a dark shadow over the students and schoolbuses that had just arrived for the start of the Monday morning.

* * *

"Heh heh heh... I knew the little brat wouldn't do what he said he'd do." Trump chuffed with a pleased smirk as the vintage B-17 flew overhead while flanked by a pair of P-51D Mustang's at 10:55am local time. He was standing with the rest of Congress to participate in the Rememberance Day traditions at the White House.

Beside him another politician noticed a slight murmur rising in the crowd of civilians, some pointing past the spot that the Congress was standing at. His inattentiveness drew Trump's gaze, then they both looked up to see a massive black shape descending from a bank of clouds, smoothly approaching the same flight path that the propeller-driven aircraft had just taken, and smoothly passed overhead, which also revealed a long line of people standing at the bow of the ship beside a huge robot, and all of them were saluting, including the robot, as the ship continued to ominously just stretch on and on, until Trump spotted another figure with silver hair standing alone in the front window of the command deck...

"... Darkwood." Trump scowled lividly as he growled under his breath. "That little Russian cocksucker..."


	50. Chapter 50

"Ma'am."

Alex Wesker glanced over at the Syndicate member that just arrived at the door to her office.

"What is it?" She noticed he was holding a dossier, so he almost certainly had a report to give her.

"The Nightfall has been launched, confirmed reports from Los Angeles as well as Washington DC from our own members, as well as social media in a plotted flight path across the United States are showcasing direct video and still images of the ship in flight below the cloud layer."

"And the Family?" Alex narrowed her eyes at the manner in which Valentine Darkwood had performed his promised timeline for his ship's official launch almost down to the minutes since his agreed time of six months.

"All present aboard the ship, with a number of additional members that we are still determining the identity of. Some are completely new, others are known to have been sighted alongside various Family members."

"And the ship itself?"

"Currently en route back to Los Angeles after a planned public reveal for the Remembrance Day proceedings over the White House. Estimated arrival to the original launch location is between three and four hours."

"What's the status of our entire fleet?" Alex asked as she tapped her finger on the surface of her desk.

"Ships 2 through 13 are operational, the flagship is currently awaiting the delivery of the Ogre from Russia."

"And my brother is there overseeing it, correct?"

"To my knowledge, yes, Albert is still in Russia."

"Hmmm..." Alex glanced off to the side, thinking for a moment. "Contact Vigo and have him lay out a beacon for drawing the Family to our main Russian base, I want to test both the Nightfall and the Ogre against each other in open combat. I'll handle sending word to my brother."

"There is also one additional part of the Ogre base to be informed of." The man presented the dossier and revealed a rather thin, lanky mech that was holding a fairly large sword with a straight blade, like a large cleaver. "Apparently this is a prototype that was originally held in one of your brother's civilian residences located in Japan, until the BSAA and PSS9 raided the house for his son, Jake. The original was destroyed, but rebuilt just recently."

"How many are operational?"

"Just the one, right now. Manufacture takes about a month."

"Designation?"

"Ronin-Class CQC-140."

"Use it to draw out the Family and the ship, have Vigo leave an obvious link with it to lead them to the Ogre."

"Understood. Will that be all?"

"Yes, now go." Alex waved her hand to dismiss him.

* * *

After the landing process was complete, everyone breathed sighs of relief as they went to disembark. It had been mostly to show off the ship, but the maiden voyage had been a total success. And an idea that came up during the return flight was to have Rico act as the ship's security while it was unattended, just in case more Syndicate attacks occurred. Of course he agreed, stating that the hangar bay was staring to grow very boring when he wasn't moving around or talking with Sheva in their DNI.

When the Darkwoods arrived at home later, they were oddly suspicious to find a man in his thirties waiting on the front steps of the house, fidgeting with a pen.

"Um... Darkwood residence?" He stood up very nervously as they exited the various vehicles, all staring at him warily. "I uh... I'm part of the Syndicate, can... can I talk to you, um... Mr. Darkwood?"

"You're far too nervous to be a trick or some sort of stunt. C'mon inside, the heat's a bit much today." Tobias noticed how skittish the man was, so they all went inside and sat in the living room.

"I uh... I'm a logistics officer for the Syndicate, I handle all the intel and documents for the local area, mostly about you guys." The man began. "And I just got ahold of some documents from up the chain of command that has me reconsidering what to do about it."

"So you're defecting, right?" Valentine asked, raising an eyebrow.

"They've made plans to lure you and your new ship into a trap with some sort of big robot called a Ronin-Class CQC-140, and they wanted some sort of evidence to lead you to another base that they have in Russia..."

"Wait, hang on... you said Ronin-Class CQC-140?" Jake asked as he hastily pulled out his phone and started looking for something for a moment. "You're talking about this thing, right?" He presented the image of the mech from back when he'd gone to Japan to handle his dad's house there with the underground bunker.

"That's exactly it! They've given it a weapon now, it's a really large sword." The Syndicate man nodded hurriedly. "I don't know the Ronin's current location, all I know is that they're planning to get you specifically to a Russian base that they have, but the reason why wasn't included in the intel I received. I'm sorry if that's not enough."

"Do you have the GPS co-ordinates of the base itself?" Tobias' eyes were both narrowed as he considered what was being presented to him. Of course he remembered the mech from Japan, and certainly the designation it'd had.

"Yes, right here." The man shakingly held up his hand to retrieve the folded paper from the chest pocket of his shirt. "I did a map check on the location before I got here, it's located near T-Tselinoyarsk."

"For future reference, man... the T is silent in Tselinoyarsk." Tobias accepted the paper and unfolded it to confirm that the numbers were there. They were. "So, I must ask you if you're prepared for any consequences of your defection. Not from us, but from them."

"I uh... I actually have a medical condition that I've requested retirement from the Syndicate for... uh, it's um... Cancer. They approved it after I got ahold of this intel, so I got lucky with all the timing, I guess."

"Tell you what..." Tobias glanced at Rize, who nodded once in agreement. "Come upstairs with me, you deserve an actual reward for doing this. I'm gonna give you five grand in cash, use it to pay for all the medication and treatments. Alright? You deserve to live, regardless of your affiliations to any organizations."

"Are you serious?!" The man gawked, and everyone nodded at the same time.

"Just because we're bioweapons doesn't mean we're not compassionate." Rize replied sagely. "Besides, the Syndicate hasn't really struck us as an organization with good employee benefits."

" _If they're attempting to use a mech for luring us to Russia... I want to prove to them that one knockoff is already too much_." Rico's voice came through Sheva's DNI, and she grinned knowingly.

"Rico has a bone to pick with that Ronin." Sheva announced aloud, earning a smirk from Valentine.

"You want that sword... Don't you, Rico?" Valentine asked, knowing that Rico could hear him.

Rico laughed slightly in the DNI, which briefly surprised Sheva with how natural it sounded. " _Maybe._ " He replied cheekily, which earned a laugh of her own from Sheva.

* * *

Several days later, Valentine used his hoverboard to rise up to where Rico was patrolling the main deck of the Nightfall, holding his Uppercut C66 in both hands as he detected Valentine's approach, but lowered it upon confirming who it was.

"Got a new toy for you to deal with the Ronin." Valentine announced as he drifted to a halt at about the height of Rico's cockpit inside of his upper chest.

"Offensive or defensive?" Rico asked, all of his sensors focused on Valentine in front of him.

"Defensive. No special functions, no fancy design, just a boring, vanilla shield." Valentine presented his tablet to the nearest sensor pod, which showed the large slab of Quinque Steel with a simple curved handle on one side for Rico to grip it with a vertical arm pose.

"And here I was expecting at least strobe lights to disorient the Ronin's optical sensors, or even some spikes." Rico joked, but approved of the rather simple, but very effective design. "I do notice that the design almost appears... disposable."

"Until Koko and Big J manage to track down the Ronin, this was the most effective design I could produce with so much urgency." Val pointed upwards to indicate that Jormungand was 'Big J'. "We have no idea what country the thing's even located in right now, but my bet is it was initially at that Russian base they're trying to lure us to."

"I have a hypothesis on that detail." Rico nodded his head slightly. "It concerns the Warhammer and the Ogre, the apparent flagship pairing of the Syndicate's fleet of knockoff ships."

"Go on..." Valentine was curious, since Rico's AI was dynamic, it also meant he could come up with results or scenario that an organic mind might miss.

"I think they're trying to lure both the ship and myself into combat against the Ogre, since the base is at least confirmed to be landlocked, and lacks any visible shipyard or hangar that might contain the Warhammer itself, due to the much larger dimensions than the Nightfall."

"I follow... Okay, so you want to take them on?" Valentine raised an eyebrow.

"Firstly, the Ronin must be dealt with before they can mass produce any sort of mech design. If my calculations are correct, they only have the one unit, and are most likely attempting to accelerate manufacture of the Ronin CQC-140 or even other presently unknown designs."

"So this one Ronin is being used as a test, regardless of the results it would achieve."

"Correct."

"Then make it a good show when you kick their ass." Valentine grinned.

"I intend to." Rico replied with a low chuckle.

* * *

"So Batou just sent me the schematic we took of the original Ronin during our joint raid on the bunker house." Motoko announced as they prepared to fly the Nightfall to the current location of the swordsman mech, which was in Nevada. "Bringing up on on the main projector now."

With that, a hologram of the mech standing in a T-pose with both arms at full length appeared in the center of the command deck for everyone to see, including Rico who was watching from outside the main windows in front of them. Of course he was listening in through the DNI since Sheva was going to test her combat skills in the duel against the other mech and the Syndicate pilot controlling it.

"Scrawny little fucker, ain't it?" Lehm joked about the design compared to Rico's much larger, and more stocky design. "So what're we looking at here?"

"Our technicians recreated it digitally and ran numerous test simulations, and noted several design flaws that I highly doubt were left unfixed. Here are those particular points." Motoko made the flawed areas highlight in red, which were the hips, upper back, shoulder joints, and one small part directly on top of the head, which drew Valentine's gaze for a moment. "Structural weak spots, except for this one here, on the top of the head. It's the emergency access hatch for the pilot. It's noted to be much weaker than the surrounding hull, as if it wasn't expected to be accessible due to the height of the Ronin itself."

"Rico's easily fifteen feet taller than the Ronin's original model." Tojo pointed out. "And given the weak spots, I think the current one might be at least a little bit taller and obviously more solidly designed."

"Rico agrees with you on that one." Sheva nodded, since Rico was just shy of forty feet tall, he could easily reach the access hatch with minimal fuss. "And what about the sword it's gonna be swinging at us? What's the estimated size?"

"Based on the schematic, I'd say twenty feet. Original Ronin design was exactly 24 feet tall, so expect it to be no more than twenty five feet long." Valentine shrugged slightly. "Unless the Ronin's the same size as Rico, in which case it can be thirty without any real problems with weight and balancing."

"So what's the attack plan for the duel?" Tobias asked, since the Nightfall's main guns were railguns, they could easily decimate the Ronin with one broadside attack, but the fact it was a mech meant it was Rico's fight, not the ship.

"Rico's saying 'what do you expect?'" Sheva smirked slightly before relaying the second half of the statement. "'Take the sword and shove it up the bastard's ass.'"

"I meant how to get you two into position in the first place. I would assume you're going to use Rico's Boosters to do a Titanfall style drop right in the Ronin's face... I mean, that's what I would do if I was Rico's pilot." Tobias knew that the game was the inspiration for Rico in the first place, but at that thought he had a sudden idea. "Hang on... Motoko, zoom the view up to the torso."

"Okay? Did you find something?" Motoko did just that, and now the hologram was focused onto the overall torso without the arms, slowly rotating as Tobias moved to look at something near the access hatch.

"Power core, pretty similar to the one I designed for the T60f when I was still a weapon techy for Umbrella. Right here, it's about the same size as Rico's central core, maybe a bit bigger... And if I'm right... they designed it to be removeable..."

"Just like pulling out a Titan's battery during a Rodeo!" Yuuki and Rachael caught on to what their father had noticed. "You think they're still gonna use that power core design?"

"We won't know until we see the updated Ronin. How long until we're at the bunker they're keeping it in?" Tobias turned to Rize at the navigation consoles, and she checked for a moment to make sure.

"Half hour, at the most. Ship's set to hover within visual range when we arrive."

"At what altitude?" Sheva asked, relaying for Rico.

"Four thousand feet, unless you want us to be lower than that for that freefall."

"Rico says make it one thousand, just in case you need to deploy the chopper to get me the hell outta Dodge." Sheva explained for Rico. "Besides, much easier to see the show at just one thousand feet than it is at four thousand, right?" She smirked slightly as she made the joke.

"Alright, you head to the hangar with Rico, make sure to grab that shield Val made for you. We'll let you two know when to do the drop." Tobias nodded over at Rico, who returned it with a nod of his own.

"You just want to make the Titanfall joke, don't you?" Yuuki grinned at her dad.

"BT and Rico would make the best of bro-bots." Tobias grinned cheekily, avoiding the question entirely.


	51. Chapter 51

"Standby for..."

"DAD! I SWEAR TO FUCKING GOD! IF YOU EVEN MAKE THAT JOKE I WILL MAKE SURE YOU END UP AT THE BOTTOM OF THE FUCKING OCEAN JUST LIKE I DID TO WESKER!"

"She's just pissed that we're fighting the Titan that can counter Tone." Sheva commented from inside Rico's cockpit, flexing Rico's fingers on the shield's grip in her right hand, while his left was empty in preparation for drawing the Goliath when they landed on the ground.

"Tone is bae! You stay out of this!" Yuuki replied sternly, which gave Tobias the opening he needed.

"Standby for Titanfall!"

With an almighty leap from the opened cargo lift on the keel of the Nightfall, she and Rico dropped from the ship with the Boosters already slowing the freefall long before they slammed into the main entrance of the Syndicate base in the middle of the desert, facing the large curved hangar that was carefully positioned in the side of the rocky hills.

Slamming the shield onto the edge of the crater in the concrete, Sheva already knew that the soldiers had been stunned by the Nightfall's arrival, and were only now just beginning to raise the alarm in a rising wave of panicked yells into radios and running into the base for heavier weaponry.

"Ronin CQC-140! You are my target, I demand that you retrieve your pilot and face me immediately!" Rico's voice had an authorative, powerful air to it as he addressed the sword wielding mech that was somewhere inside the hangar.

"You think they gave it an AI core too?" Sheva asked, and Rico gave an affirmation sound.

"I do think it's possible, yes. Though I doubt it bears a dynamic coding concept or even a personality, if it does exist." Rico replied with the internal speakers. "Detecting infantry armed with small arms and anti-armour weaponry, deploying countermeasures until Ronin's arrival."

with that, the sonic system activated to deter the rocket launchers, and with the large shield, they infantry knew better than to bother shooting at him as they detected the vibrations of the Ronin's footsteps approaching from within the hangar, coming sprinting into the sunlight and slid to a halt with one hand reaching over a shoulder to grasp the hilt of the massive sword, only a few feet shorter than the Ronin was, just like Valentine said it would.

"Motoko here, we're scanning the hull's design to compare it to the old schematic, give us another thirty seconds and we'll send you the new flaws if we find any."

"If it's the power core, I might try to do a real Rodeo on the fucker." Sheva reported. "Otherwise I am going to use that sword on him and keep it for myself."

"So far there's no visible weaponry, nor weapon systems. However, I do detect explosive armour systems on the limbs and part of the body." Rico reported, then indicated the distinctive square panels of the shaped charges in Sheva's HUD.

"Explosive armour?!" Sheva raised an eyebrow in confusion.

"It's like Rico's sonic countermeasures, but each panel is one-time use. It's meant to counter explosions by blasting outwards away from the hull." Valentine explained. "I originally designed Rico to have several, but reconsidered when I got ahold of the designs for the sonic system."

"BSAA-NF01, the Cherub Class... Rico, huh? And I hear you're piloted by a little girl. Heh, time to show you some real combat, chicky. C'mon, let's dance!" The pilot spoke with a similar set of external speakers like Rico had, making the Ronin heft the sword into one hand, then waved the other hand in a three-fingered 'come and get me' taunt.

"Motoko here, it's the power core and the access hatch again. They changed everything but the top of the head, and looks like they made it a few feet taller than the original. Give them hell, we'll make sure to pull you out if things turn to shit."

"Rico, y'know that new playlist I made at school on my phone?" Sheva grinned as Rico chuckled in reply. "Shuffle please. Let's see which ones we're working with."

"Internal or external speakers?" Rico asked as he hacked her phone up onboard the Nightfall, and presented her with a small display in the holographic HUD that was waiting for her to hit play.

"External." Sheva grinned as she tapped it without even hesitating. And of course, that same display - which was an exact copy of her phone - now displayed the song name... Get Jinxed.

"That better not be what I think I'm hearing..." Yuuki's voice came into the radio line, and Rico chuckled as the surrounding soldiers tensed or shared glances at the rising sound of the song's deceptively subtle intro.

"What do you think it is?" He asked in reply as Sheva grinned and drew the Goliath and raised the shield in a horizontal position, leveling the revolver over the edge of the shield and opened fire on the Ronin, landing two shots on the cockpit's canopy, testing the hull's capabilities against her gun.

Both shots made the mech stumble slightly, but immediately recovered and charged forward with both hands gripping the hilt of the sword, shrugging off the remaining four rounds as Sheva shoved the revolver back into the holster and clenched that hand into a fist while preparing to use the shield to parry the blade and sidestep out of the block into her next move.

The Ronin raised the sword into a left-to-right downward diagonal slash, but Sheva swung the shield up and into the swing and slammed it into the Ronin's exposed forearm as she smoothly transitioned the block into spinning on Rico's heel and swinging Rico's left arm into a sudden elbow slam against the back of the Ronin's right shoulder, causing it to falter and stumble forward several steps before sliding one foot around to change both direction and stance to face the sight of Sheva casually dumping the spent casings out of the Goliath and smoothly reloading with just the left hand, flicking the cylinder back into position just like Tobias did with his own revolvers. By now Get Jinxed had ended, admittedly too short for what it was worth, and the next song that immediately began to play was Natural Born Killer by Avenged Sevenfold.

"Cute, Tobias taught you that trick, didn't he?" The Ronin pilot taunted as he began to circle around Rico, keeping his sword raised with both hands held low near the Ronin's 'groin' so that the blade rose diagonally in front of himself. "Him and those shield Kagune he's got, wouldn't surprise me in the slightest that the shield was his idea too."

"Rico, Sheva, I have an idea." Tobias spoke up suddenly. "Lure him into a pattern of some kind, try to make it look like a specific fighting technique, then when he starts to pick up on the style, swap controls with each other to throw him off. Right now that stance of his is too deceptive, and he's gonna expect you to block any slashes like that first one in the same style."

"Alright, I follow the logic. I'll get the pattern going this way, Rico, can you do more 'brutish' methods in comparison?" Sheva raised the shield in the same horizontal position as before, aiming the Goliath over the top again in preparation to dodge his next slash.

"I can. Just say when to take over." Rico agreed to the idea. "I would fire now to get him to stop circling."

With that Sheva fired once to get him to react, and he did, immediately stepping backwards to throw off her aim while raising the sword into an obvious stance meant for an impaling strike and started to rush forward.

"Block again, then shoot from point blank." Rico pointed out as Sheva readied the shield vertically as the sword glanced off the shield and caused the Ronin to immediately collide with the shield as the sword clattered several meters away from them as Sheva immediately fired the Goliath as fast as she could into the armoured torso until the Ronin stumbled backwards and landed on his back. "Grab the sword!"

Sheva immediately dropped the shield and went for the sword, sliding on Rico's legs to smoothly grab the weapon in one hand, turning back to see that the Ronin had had the same idea, and was now attempting to lift the disproportionate shield in front of himself, unable to do so without using both arms just to get it into a vertical position.

Sheva immediately stopped her music partway through Natural Born Killer and approached the cowering Ronin with his own sword.

"Rico, your turn." Sheva stopped several paces short, disengaging manual control to let Rico have his fill of the duel. "Engage external speakers." She ordered before she began speaking just like he'd done during the first part of the duel. "If you haven't noticed yet, I've chosen to stop my music to let someone else have their fill of defeating you and your knockoff Titan. A REAL Ronin doesn't just have a sword, it uses a shotgun called Leadwall. You don't even have any weapons systems either, do you? Not to mention that you're about ten feet shorter than Rico, which is an obvious disadvantage. And to top it all off, you're using strictly manual controls to operate your Ronin, and even I can see that you're struggling to carry my shield right now. You don't have an AI that controls the mech for you, at all. You're relying on an old design, so face the facts and stop hurting yourself with my shield, alright?"

"Not if I have anything to say about it!" The pilot snarled as he shoved the shield aside and rushed for his sword, only for Rico to extend his free hand and grab the Ronin's own arm before instantly swinging the sword and cut off the ungrabbed arm with an upward swing that he smoothly transitioned into an icepick grip while pivoting his torso around to impale the blade straight through the front of the cockpit by thrusting it behind himself under his own arm, finishing off the spin by sliding one foot in a half circle to face the crippled Ronin that had now dropped onto it's knees in front of him.

"To the Syndicate presently witnessing this, both locally and remotely... heed my warning; I am Cherub Class BSAA-NF01... but you may call me Rico." Rico announced in his own voice as he shoved the sword completely through the Ronin's body and out of the back, which revealed the blood covering the end before he roughly withdrew the weapon from the chassis and turned to the infantry that had been hiding and avoiding provoking the larger mech.

"Armed infantry detected... Engaging."


	52. Chapter 52

The sound of a fist being slammed against something solid reached Vigo's ears as he approached Alex Wesker's office. He knew that she'd just received word about the duel between the Ronin CQC-140 and Rico.

"May I speak freely, ma'am?" Vigo asked as he entered to find her seething with the knuckle of her index finger pressed against her lips. "I think that due to the fact the Ronin was still being transported to the intended battleground at the Nightfall's main shipyard is a strong indicator that the Family might have gotten ahold of intel about it that we didn't expect them to. And, on a side note, the evidence that would've lead them to Tselinoyarsk wasn't finished being prepared either. I'm afraid that we're simply down a mech, a giant sword, and about a hundred and thirty soldiers, give or take."

"You think one of our own was intercepted?" Alex asked through gritted teeth behind her knuckle.

"No, I don't." Vigo shook his head. "I think we need another method to lure them into range of the Ogre, is all."

"I'll try to come up with something. In the meantime, send word to my brother that I need him back here immediately."

"Of course, I'll send word right now." Vigo nodded before turning to leave the office, pulling out his phone and calling the necessary people to pass along the summons to Albert Wesker.

* * *

"Right, now that the big guy's got his big knife, I say we assemble a strike force to carry out the assault on their base in Tselinoyarsk." Tobias tapped at Russia on a world map that was spread out over the top of the coffee table in the Darkwood house. "Due to the nature of the Ogre, the ship's going to be in live combat, and a ground force is going to be necessary to handle any sort of anti aircraft defenses or other mechs they might have. We've only got Rico, and even I know that being outnumbered in a mech fight isn't something you want to find yourself in, Sheva."

"Well, that's also not counting the fact that the Ogre's even bigger than Rico, and it's got a gun stuck to it that could take on the Nightfall with more than a mere chance of success." Yuuki pointed out at the hologram projector showing the huge mech with the shoulder cannon she was talking about.

"Remember how I said the Nightfall has some surprises in it?" Valentine glanced over at his oldest sister with a smirk. "Not all of them will seem that obvious at first glance. Especially since that's what some of them are designed for."

"Like what?" Yuuki wasn't kidding around with her question. "No, seriously, name at least one of these surprises."

"Magnetic shielding around the entire ship. Repels incoming metal objects, y'know... like bullets. Big or small."

"Then how can Rico stay on the deck without being sent flying?"

"His Magno-Core cancels out the shield's repulsion on himself, and he's not moving at a high enough velocity to even trigger the effects in the first place."

"Alright, so we can divert incoming fire. What about the knockoff ships? Don't they have the same railguns as the Nightfall?"

"Seras and Alucard both confirmed that they're all still using the old 315mm cannons. The only ship with any railguns is the Warhammer, and it's packing twelve of them, all single barreled, and located in the middle of the main cannon batteries on the main deck and around the superstructure, which are, again, the 315mm's."

"Why the fuck are they still using the old guns when you clearly replaced them with railguns months ago?!" Rachael asked in confusion. "Discounting that flying compensation she's waving around like it's her own cock!"

"I had official government backing to build these ones in general. My knowledge of engineering and direct control of magnetism also meant mine were constructed much faster than expected. The Syndicate would need to recruit the proper crews and gather the resources, as well as perform live-fire testing to ensure that it'd perform properly. In other words, they're not me, and have to deal with tried-and-true methods which means they are using the big bullets while I'm firing soda cans at Mach 8 velocity."

"Soda cans?" Tobias raised both eyebrows in disbelief. "You mean a sixteen ounce aluminum can full of soda? Like the one Sheva's drinking right now?"

"Yup." Valentine nodded once. "I did several tests, and found that Mountain Dew somehow performed much better than the other brands I've tested."

"Please tell me you're joking..."

"No. I'm not." Valentine shook his head. "Because the thing you're all missing is the fact that the Nightfall _flies!_ _And_ it sails in the ocean too! So that means I have to also consider the weight of the projectile, as well as the total storage capacity of the ship itself. A sixteen ounce projectile, times eighteen railguns, that's already 288 ounces just for one shot for each gun. Those 315mm shells weigh twenty eight pounds. Each. That's now just over... five hundred and four pounds, give or take my math being off. And that's not covering the financial differences either. A case of twenty four cans of soda is about five to ten dollars, I forget off the top of my head. One shell is easily over that price, let alone the fact there's 18 railguns to be loaded, so again, Mountain Dew performed the best out of the brands of soda I chose to test, and therefore that is what we're shooting out of the railguns. All the other munitions are proper military ordnance, with Quinque Steel warheads and bullets, of course."

"I have no words for this..." Yuuki held up her hands in defeat. "Congrats Val, I asked for one surprise, you gave us two!"

"Trust me... There's a lot more surprises that nobody's even seen yet. I made sure of that fact." Valentine grinned knowingly, since nobody knew it, but he'd personally hunted down and killed the council of leaders he'd hired to oversee and consult the development of each portion of the Nightfall, including developing Rico and the railguns themselves. Only he had the knowledge of his ship and her full capabilities.

"I know that tone." Sheva narrowed her eyes at him suspiciously. "What did you do, and who did you do it to?"

"The supervisors that oversaw each major segment of the Nightfall's construction, including Rico's development. I made sure that none of them could let slip any intel about the ship that shouldn't be known to the public. Yes, I did the thing to them."

"The Dalton thing?"

"The Dalton thing."

"How many of them were there?"

"Eleven in total."

"So what's the plan for Tselinoyarsk?" Rachael asked. "If I know my geography correctly, the region's mostly a jungle near a mountain range."

"Rico's just confirmed that, yeah." Sheva reported from what Rico just said in her DNI. "He says the base is an old factory complex from the sixties, he's using Big J to run direct recon over the GPS co-ordinates of the base."

"From the sixties? So it's from the Cold War, huh?" Tobias stroked his lip with his thumb thoughtfully. "No doubt it's... oh fucking hell." He grimaced before letting out a huge sigh. "Rico, access recon data from BSAA Operation: T-ALOS. Verify GPS co-ordinates of both bases."

Sheva gave a thumbs up to let him know Rico was checking the data. After several seconds of quiet from Rico, he suddenly hummed in thought.

"The layout and overall design of the two bases are 98% matched, but the GPS co-ordinates from Operation: T-ALOS are located in the Arctic whilst the Ogre base are far to the south." Rico explained, which Sheva repeated back for Tobias.

"That means... What?" Yuuki and Rachael shared a glance and shrugged, but Rize and Tobias sighed loudly.

"Tselinoyarsk is an old Umbrella base." Valentine revealed with a scowl. "So that's a big fat _nyet_ for the ground force you were planning Dad... But that just means I can reveal one of the Nightfall's surprises when we get there."

"I'll get is cleared for an official mission, to use it as a smokescreen, make it seem like we've discovered an old Umbrella facility in the region... Which is _technically_ true." Tobias chuckled darkly for a moment. "Only catch is that it's going to be a chat with the Kremlin... Not the White House."

"Why would that be a problem?" Yuuki asked. "You're full Russian, you work for the BSAA, and on top of that, you're a bioweapon that Umbrella made, so if anything they should be begging you to haul ass and wipe the facility off the map!"

"The Kremlin isn't full of idiots like the White House. This will take some finesse... But you're right, Yuuki, I'm probably the only one that could pull this off with any shred of success."

"Takes one to know one... Heh heh." Rize's eyes glinted teasingly at her husband. "You might want some help to get their number that you're gonna need."

"Val's not the only one with surprises." Tobias held up his phone and tapped the screen while he brought it to his ear. "Tobias Darkwood speaking, I require an international number."

"Individual or organization?" The secretary for the White House on the other end of the line queried.

"Government." Tobias replied.

"Oh... I don't have that level of authorization, please hold while I transfer you to the President herself."

"Of course."

After a few moments of silence on the line, Tobias smirked as he connected to the President. "Greetings, Madame President."

"Good afternoon Toby, how may I be of assistance?"

"I have an opportunity to eliminate an old Umbrella facility, but it's international, and I do not have the means to directly contact their government. It's Russia, as ironic as it might be."

"I can give you their President's direct line, but be warned it might not be a warm welcome."

"As is expected of an unknown number calling. Thank you."

"I shall send it to your cellphone directly, is there anything else you need?"

"No, that's everything, Ma'am. Again, thank you for the assistance."

"Not a problem, good luck with the call."

With that the call ended, and about twenty seconds later Tobias received the agreed text message that contained the phone number for the Russian President's direct line.

"Five bucks it'll turn into an argument in less than ten minutes."

"Ten bucks and you got a bet." Rachael pulled out two five dollar bills from her pocket and put them on top of the map as Yuuki did the same alongside them.

"If I wasn't the one making the call, I would put ten down too." Tobias chuckled as he dialed the number manually into his phone's screen. "Here goes..."

"Who am I speaking to?" The thick Russian accent that came through the phone was of a woman, already sounding terse.

"Captain Tobias Darkwood, of the Bioterrorism Security Assessment Alliance's North American Division, am I speaking to the President of Russia?"

"Ah, a fellow countryman. And may I ask how you've acquired my direct line?"

"A personal favour to the US President herself. Shall I get straight to the point for my calling?"

"That would suit both of us best, da. Continue."

"After verifying recently acquired intel, I have confirmed the existence of an Umbrella Corporation facility located within your borders, and wish to conduct an operation to search, secure and possibly even destroy the facility with our new asset, the Nightfall battleship."

"Ah, da... the Nightfall, I saw that little reveal you did over the White House... But I require a bit more context for this facility you've mentioned."

"Okay, what would you like to know? Bear in mind that even for yourself there are censorship that I must abide by."

"Firstly, is the facility active?"

"Not that our present recon would suggest. We do consider it a possibility."

"And where is this place even located?"

"I am unfortunately not able to reveal precisely where, but I can openly confirm that it is located in Tseniloyarsk. A facility that our intel suggests was built sometime in the 1960's."

"I see." The President hummed in thought, sounding like she was leaning back in her chair. "And I would presume you are requesting clearances and direct government authorization to conduct this operation against this Umbrella facility?"

"Yes, that is correct. The Nightfall is the only vessel that will be involved in the operation, and from it, a complimentary assault force will conduct the operation directly from the Nightfall itself. I will be personally present and involved in the operation from the moment you confirm that we're cleared for entry into Russian airspace."

"Might I ask why you're requesting government permission instead of taking full advantage of the BSAA's international authority concerning Umbrella and bioterrorism."

"Well, to be rather blunt, ma'am... how would you react if you saw a 600 meter long Quinque Steel ship flying over the Kremlin?"

"Ah... it's because of the ship, isn't it?"

"Precisely. If you would like, I can present you to the Nightfall's commanding officer, he's sitting right with me at this moment."

"I expect a press conference at the Kremlin after the operation is completed. All of the BSAA personnel that comprise the crew of your ship are invited, of course. I shall prepare all of the relevant clearances for your ship. From which Ocean will your arrival be taken over?"

"The Pacific, ma'am. I will likewise make the preparations for an immediate launch from the ship's homeport in Los Angeles. I shall call you again after the conclusion of the operation in Tselinoyarsk."

"Thank you for your continued battle against bioterrorism... and the Umbrella Corporation's remnants."

"Thank you for your assistance, Madame President. Do svidaniya."

"Do svidaniya, Captain. I await meeting you in person at the press conference." The call was ended without another word from either of them.

"Fuck..." Yuuki groaned at the lost bet. "I was expecting a dude... and an angry one at that." She held up both hands as Rachael collected the twenty dollars and tucked it all into her cleavage with a smirk. "But NO! She's fucking chill as fuck, and wanted a little grandstanding after we fuck up the Ogre and the Syndicate at the base."


	53. Chapter 53

"So Val... What's this surprise ground force you've been hiding in the ship?" Stella asked during the flight over the Pacific en route to Tselinoyarsk.

"Robots." Valentine replied from the main flight controls. "Ever heard of a movie series called Star Wars?"

"Which of the trilogies is it from?" Stella's eyes narrowed suspiciously. "Because there's a bunch, and not all of them are as good as the original movies."

"The Prequels... specifically my design is inspired by the Battle Droids used during the trilogy from the early 2000's... The Clone Wars crap."

"You mean the 'roger roger' robots?!" Stella laughed loudly, holding her stomach as she leaned back in her seat. "OH MY GOD THAT'S _AWESOME_! HA HA HA HA HA!"

"I made them useful, actually. And they're still able to fold up like a backpack like the Battle Droids did in the movies."

"Where are they?" Tobias asked, noticing that Valentine was smirking knowingly.

"Ruining the surprise~!" He laughed teasingly.

"They're all over the ship, hidden under the floor and in a dedicated storage bay near the hangar deck." Sheva revealed, thanks to Rico cheekily listing off the concealment tactics that Valentine used to hide his literal army of robots that resided aboard the ship. "There's thirty of them just in the command deck alone. All under your feet."

"Nightfall, deploy security infantry, command deck!" Valentine ordered suddenly, and suddenly the panels in the floor - so subtlely hidden from immediate detection - and instantly lifted out the robots that were curled up in the fetal position in the size of a backpack. All thirty of them sychroniously uncurled themselves and reached for a P90 that was mounted in their chest as their head and limbs locked into their humanoid positions, all of them readying their weapons at the sudden summons. "At ease, summary presentation protocol!"

The bots lowered their guns to a resting pose in their hands, idly glancing around at them as everyone likewise gave the bots a good look of their own.

"Alright, Val, start talkin'. What'cha got them doing?" Yuuki leaned slightly to the side as she idly paced around the nearest bot with her hands clasped behind her back, and Rachael did the same so that they appeared to be circling the robot in perfect sync, using the same - slightly creepy - leaning pose.

"They're sixty five pounds. You can carry them in their compacted form on the back of your T-15, and the fact they're using P90's is simply because that's what these specific units are carrying. All of the other forces use the standard BSAA loadouts. And they're not just the assault force, or the ship's security either... They're also support personnel and maintenance crews for the entire ship... Oh, and they man the railguns and handle the soda can loading too."

"Soda can loading?" Stella asked since she had finally stopped her belly laughing.

"The railguns fire soda cans instead of shells. Mountain Dew, specifically. Val uses them as ammo since they're lightweight as fuck, and cheap too." Sheva explained with a smile, still giving one of the bots a thorough examination of her own, since Rico already knew their blueprint schematics.

"And yet here I sit with a fuckin' plasma cannon inside of my right arm..." Stella smirked over at Valentine, who winked cheekily.

"Surprises are yet to be seen aboard the ship. There's even more that even Rico cannot access."

"If you get my hopes up about a plasma cannon on board the ship, I demand to be the one to be the first to pull the trigger." Stella glared at Valentine sternly.

Valentine started to whistle in a very fake innocent manner, averting his gaze before smirking for a split second.

"Where is it?" Stella suddenly demanded.

"It's on the main deck, hidden in the center ridge between the forward railgun turret and the hangar bay's launch hatches." Valentine pointed out the front windows towards the distinctive low ridge that ran along the length of a majority of the main deck until reaching the massive hangar hatches near the front third of the deck's surface.

Stella clenched her legs together with a clearly sensual groan, scowling as her eyelids fluttered for a moment while she panted for breath. "You... little shit... you didn't even need to touch me... and I just came in my fucking panties. I hate you... just as much as I love your... ship right now."

Valentine winked cheekily. "What can I say? Magic touch."

* * *

"They're almost in range, flying below the clouds."

"And the fleet?"

"Above the clouds, already deploying jamming countermeasures to disrupt detection attempts from the Nightfall."

"Wait until they're in position for their own assault on the facility before we make our move."

"Yes sir."

* * *

"Shit!" Sheva sensed Rico's detection system blaring in the DNI, spinning around when everyone heard her swearing. "Rico's picked up signal interferences above the clouds! He thinks it's the Syndicate fleet!"

"They were already expecting us. It's not a big deal. Koko, fire up Big J and reverse their jammers back onto themselves!" Valentine gripped the flight controls as everyone immediately moved to their stations with grins forming on their faces. "Everyone else prep for ship to ship combat. Nightfall, engage combat mode!"

The entire ship hummed as the four triple-barreled railgun mounts rose the long barrels from their idle positions and aimed at all of the upper firing fields. Unbeknownst to anyone save for Valentine himself, the remaining three double-barreled mounts hidden in the keel's armour plating were revealed and did the same as their upper counterparts.

"Rico! I'm inbound!" Sheva sprinted out of the command deck as she deployed her T-15 along the way. "You pick the toys this time!"

"I've already chosen which ones I want." Rico replied over the intercom with a chuckle. "Standing by for your arrival in the hangar bay."

"I think you have some competition, Val..." Alice teased as she and Koko reversed the Syndicate jamming attempts back at their fleet laying in wait for an ambush.

"As which? Boyfriend or best friend?" Valentine chuckled. "I knew they'd get along like that when I designed him! This isn't a surprise, y'know!"

"I HEARD THAT!" Sheva shouted from her helmet's radio, which came through the command deck's intercom.

* * *

"How many do you think they're sending at us?" Valentine asked his parents as Rico and Sheva appeared on the main deck from the lift in the hangar bay, armed with the Tac-3 grenade launcher from his arsenal, and his newly acquired Broadsword from the Ronin in Nevada was mounted on his back, right beside Rico's admittedly favourite gun of all of his weaponry, the Uppercut C66 shotgun. And of course, he was also carrying the Goliath revolver on his left leg.

"Judging by the number of signal sources, I think there's the full thirteen knockoffs waiting for us, and of course the Ogre's gonna be taking potshots from the ground at us as soon as we're within range of that shoulder cannon it has."

"Is it a railgun or a cannon?" Yuuki asked from her own station.

"Cannon. The Ogre was originally what Rico was designed to be..." Valentine explained. "But when I started to notice files being tampered with in my database of blueprints, I left it as a decoy alongside the outrageous design of the Warhammer to make the Syndicate think that those were what the Nightfall and Rico were meant to be, whilst the actual blueprints of the Nightfall were going to be the accompanying support ships alongside it."

"Support ships?" Yuuki felt the hairs on the back of her neck rising at the rather modest role for any sort of ship. She knew that it was another of Acidika's damn references... Cheeky prick.

"Yes, I built some. Yes, they're operational. Yes, they're going to be used alongside the Nightfall for this operation. And yes, they're linked to Big J just like Rico and the ship." Valentine laughed. "They're called the Maidens."

"How many?"

"Four."

"How long until they're within the region?"

"Six minutes." Rico suddenly joined the conversation over the intercom. "I presume that they're the incoming ships to our five o'clock that Jormungand is tracking?"

"Yep!" Valentine laughed again. "They've got the same type of AI core as you do, Rico, but without the charming personality to go with it."

"Well that's a shame. That's the first time you've managed to disappoint me, Val." Rico sounded very cheeky as he even turned towards the command deck when he'd spoken. "And to think you even planned to build me into the Ogre too... Now that's just cold."

"So Valentine..." Tobias' very Dad-tone sent a slight chill down everyone's spines as he turned his chair around to face his son at the helm. Also very unnerving was the fact that Tobias had also used his full name, rather than Val like he normally did. "How much did the Nightfall _really_ cost out of that half-billion you were permitted for the program?"

"Just the ship?"

"Just the ship, yes."

"... One twenty eight."

"And Rico?"

"Sixteen."

"And the robot army?"

"Six."

"And the Maidens?" Tobias raised an eyebrow, his gaze hinting at his unamusement just as much as his stern tone.

"Each or total? They're all the same, just with different designations..."

"Total. I can divide by four."

"Three twenty."

"So each was eighty million? And how much was left over, thirty, right?"

"Most of that was spent on personnel hiring and the repairs from the Syndicate attack in the shipyard."

"Do you have anything leftover at all?"

"Eleven million, four hundred thousand."

"Do you need it for anything in particular?"

"What do you have in mind, Toby?" Rize was unsurprisingly able to detect the subtle shift in Tobias' tone.

"You have a fucking Titan on deck holding Tone's damn tracker rocket gun... and yet you have failed to provide Rico with Legion's Predator Cannon... Sometimes you overcomplicate things a bit too much. What's the most simplistic trick, toy or trap that you can make for actual usage aboard the Nightfall itself? And, as an added detail, what do you need to make it?"

"I can make a very effective explosive trap using a hand grenade, several feet of tripwire and some duct tape."

"Prove it. If we get boarded at all... you make a few of those grenade traps and actually get them to perform, alright?"

"It would appear that might be a possibility during this imminent engagement, Toby..." Rico suddenly rejoined the chatter. "Confirming deployment of troop transport helicopters being launched from several of the Syndicate ships, ETA two minutes to ambush point along our current course."

"I also want Northstar's rifle and Scorch's thermite launcher." Tobias added in a slight whisper to Valentine as he stood up and left the command deck without bothering to deploy his T-15, which Valentine noticed but said nothing on the matter as he refocused his attention towards the main windows for the approaching battle.


	54. Chapter 54

When Tobias walked out onto the main deck and walked right to the bow, Sheva knew right away that there was a reason he was carrying his guitar in one hand and some sort of large broadcasting module. Even Rico was suspicious about Tobias' intentions. Was he going to play a song to taunt the Syndicate?

"Rico, you have the files from the Raccoon and Carrier Incidents... right?" Sheva asked warily.

"He did indeed utilize music in both Incidents, yes. And several recent records also indicate that he uses music to motivate new recruits, as well as to intimidate hostiles in open battle." Rico replied, still watching the approaching helicopter formation.

"Alright, Val, full halt before we're in their killbox!" Tobias suddenly spoke up over the radio, and the ship slowed to a halt, staying stationary with the retro thrusters all over the keel of the ship. "Koko, I'm ready for the switch. Just say when."

"Hijacking their comms, employing encryptions and cranking their volume... Now."

With that, Tobias laughed in a very dark, menacing tone as he suddenly started to play the guitar, since it was already connected to the module in the first place. It took a moment for everyone to realize that it was This Is My War by Five Finger Death Punch... Tobias' longtime favourite song.

And then Rico assisted by adding the rest of the song's instruments to the hijacked feed while Tobias started to sing the song with perfect timing.

Halfway through the song, Rico suddenly sealed his cockpit and armour plating around Sheva as he detected the Syndicate ships mobilizing towards them, and the distant sound of the helicopters reached her ears just before he covered her inside.

"Toby knows. He's taunting them out of their ambush and to try and usurp their morale with the song." Rico already knew Sheva had a flash of worry for Tobias standing out in the open at the very front of the Nightfall, but he calmed her down as he readied the Tac-3 at the incoming choppers. "They've already broken their formation, prepare for combat."

"Without their detection systems functioning, they're struggling to even safely break their formation." Koko reported with a low laugh. "So the chances of them even detecting the Maidens is nearly zero, let along getting a lock onto us in the first place. So any incoming fire will be manually aimed."

"Good call. Shall we send them a courtesy greeting?" Rico suggested as he locked his targeting system onto the foremost chopper and aimed the Tac-3 at it.

"All hands, fire at will!" Valentine ordered as he engaged the ship's forward propulsion and banked towards the fleet that was just now beginning to appear below the clouds. "Be prepared for evasive maneuvering and close-range fire."

"You drive, Rico. I've got a little something something of my own for them too." Sheva grinned behind her T-15's mask as she brought up a dedicated display for the HUD and began preparing her idea.

"With pleasure." Rico chuckled as he fired first out of all the ship's weapons systems, the Tac-3's distinctly sharp thump-like reports with their slow fire rate immediately gave away that Valentine had based the design on Tone's 40mm Tracker Cannon from Titanfall.

With a smile at the familiar weapon, Tobias encased his guitar in a layer of ice on the deck, then spoke into the radio earpiece he was using. "Now that I have their attention, I'm going to abuse that attention. So don't mind me, I want to send them a message."

"You already have, Dad!" Both Yuuki and Rachael countered, speaking at the same time as Tobias chuckled in reply.

"That was just to get their attention. The real message is much more intimidating." He replied before suddenly launching straight upwards from the ship with his Telekinesis and turned towards the first of the thirteen ships, then shot forward at such a high velocity that Sheva felt the shudder of him breaking the sound barrier from inside of Rico, but didn't hear the distinctive sound. She did however, catch a glimpse of the shockwave that appeared around him when he did it.

"DAD!? WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING?!" Yuuki screamed into her mic as she watched Tobias streaking across the sky like that.

" _This_." Was his only reply before a big blue flash of cryo-fire engulfed him without stopping his high velocity flight towards the ship, and both Valentine and Rico brought the sight up onto their main displays as they saw a massive shadow forming in the middle of the growing ball of cryo-fire...

His white dragon Kakuja.

"Toby, comms check. You good?" Alice spoke up with one hand pressing her earpiece a bit further into her left ear.

"Yeah, I'm fine. How's the outgoing quality?" Tobias' voice came back through the radio without any interference.

"Just checking, since you just popped your Kakuja and all." Alice replied as she watched the helicopters scattering to get away from him as he flew towards their ranks.

"So what's the game plan? We're a bit of a clusterfuck right now, in all honesty..." Yuuki asked as she directed the weapons systems to _not_ shoot at Toby, despite the blaring alarm that was detecting his T-Virus.

"The railguns are set for Rachael to target the ships, Rico and Dad are handling the choppers, and the keel guns are keeping our lower hemisphere clear until we've confirmed the location of the Ogre. Oh, and you've already set Dad as a friendly entity, I see. So for now let's just shoot the fuckers down so that Dad and Rico aren't hogging all of the glory!" Val explained while he piloted the ship so that Rico and Sheva wouldn't be thrown overboard during evasive movements.

"I can work with that!" Yuuki declared as she set to work manning the weapons systems.

With an audible whine, the railguns began charging to full power, their chambers already loaded with cans of Mountain Dew as Rachael lined up their targeting systems with the closest of the Syndicate ships, looking just like the Nightfall save for the lack of railguns and a noticeably differently shaped bow.

"Where am I targeting, Val?" Rachael asked as she scanned the hull in her display.

"Aim for their starboard bow thruster vents, if they can't turn away from us, then they're going to be forced to do a full circle to get away, and doing that would open you up to their entire flank." Val's instructions added a highlighted overlay to her display, marking the rather important vents that made the ships turn.

"What about ours? Can they hit us at this range?" Stella asked, since she was in charge of monitoring any damage to the ship, and had a full live-time holographic render of the Nightfall in front of her.

"Not with those 315mm's. They'd need to be about two more kilometers closer to us to pull off that precise of a shot. I redesigned the vents after they were installed for this exact purpose." Valentine replied. "Hey, Rico, what're your current accuracy margins with your Tac-3?"

"I am using the airburst ammunition, providing covering fire rather than precision attacks. But, to answer the question, my chances of a successful impact are 14.3% per shot." Rico replied. "Toby's also in my way, otherwise my chances would be 26.1% per shot."

"You're just mad that I'm already in the fight, big guy." Tobias chuckled as he breathed a barrage of icy projectiles into the nearest helicopter as it tried to fly away from the sheer size of his draconic Kakuja. The icicles impaled through the hull with ease, causing it to shudder and rock to the side from the staggered impacts before several shattered into the rotorblades and caused the helicopter to lurch sideways into a downward deathspin, spewing heavy black smoke from the crippled engine as it plummeted to the jungle landscape below.

"No, you and your big ass are in my way." Rico replied with a chuckle as he landed a direct impact through another helicopter's entire cockpit, which caused the 140mm round to detonate right between the two pilots, tearing apart the entire front end of the helicopter in a flash of smoke and fire, causing it to also plummet to the ground with very small chances for the Syndicate personnel aboard to survive. "Target eliminated, eleven more in sector."

"Rico, do you have the flak rounds?" Sheva asked, still working on her idea, so she wasn't watching the combat taking place in front of her on the displays.

"No, only the airburst ammunition. Shall I set some of the support crewbots to prepare a loadout of the flak ammunition?"

"What's the flak rounds configuration?"

"Timer fuse for high altitude scattering of the shrapnel, with a distinctive green flash during the detonation. It's designed to rain the shrapnel down onto targets from above, much like a flechette round."

Mao snickered at the commentary about flechette rounds, and Koko resisted the urge to smile as well.

"I only need one round, have a crewbot set one up for you and bring it to you while I finish up with these last few adjustments." Sheva replied, still doing the fine-tuning for what she was planning to do.

"Only one?" Rico seemed suspicious, yet likewise curiously amused at the same time. "Orders received, a crewbot is being mobilized to my armoury now."

"Trust me, this is gonna be sweet." Sheva replied, still not watching Rico take down another chopper with another direct impact from an airburst round, tearing off the rotorblades and cause the chopper to fall straight downwards. Not even gliding forward slightly... It just dropped like a stone.

"Now you're just getting my hopes up." Rico chuckled, dropping the empty rack for the Tac-3's ammunition onto the deck as he retrieved his second of three loaded racks of the airburst rounds, then chambered the first round to resume firing.

Koko glanced over to a sudden message coming from Sheva's DNI in her station for controlling Jormungand. Her eyes widened slightly in surprise, but then she grinned and gave Sheva the last few tidbits that she needed for her idea.


	55. Chapter 55

"Sheva, why does that crewbot only have one round to deliver?" Valentine could easily see that the single little crewbot was arriving in the main deck lift from Rico's bay in the hangar deck.

"It's not being used to attack. Trust me." Sheva replied as Rico fired the last round from his current rack for the Tac-3 and crouched onto one knee to accept the single projectile from the surprisingly adorable little robot.

"Loading it now. Are you gonna drive for this?" Rico asked as he manually chambered the flak round into the Tac-3 for her.

"Yeah, I got it." Sheva replied as she engaged manual control, aiming the weapon at the distant ships that were now finally beginning to advance towards the Nightfall below the clouds. "Toby, you might want to pull back for this one."

"Why do I get the feeling you're about to impress me?" Tobias asked as he circled around to return to the Nightfall's deck, dismissing his Kakuja and landed alongside her and Rico to observe whatever she was planning.

"I dunno..." Sheva chuckled as she fired the round in a distinctly high, long-ranged arc. "Maybe because I _am_."

"Rico, what's she trying to pull off?" Rachael asked as she stopped lining up her shot at one of the ships' forward vents.

"I have no clue."

"I see the flash!" Yuuki reported, and they all saw that tell-tale green flash of the round exploding right over the ship in the middle of their long row. "Detonation was 36 meters directly over the bow of the ship. No damage visible."

"Not yet... Wait for it." Sheva chuckled slightly, and Valentine glanced over at Koko's station and realized that Koko was smirking in a way that hinted that she knew something...

And then the ship Sheva had fired the flak round at exploded without warning.

"Sheva, what the _fuck_ did you just do?!" Rachael gawked as the ship sank down to the jungle below with a plume of black smoke and belching flames.

"Hang on... Next one's inbound." Sheva laughed as the ships on either side of the first one were hit almost at the same time by her unknown idea. "Fuckin' sweet, I knew I did the calculations correctly!"

"Sheva... What are you using on those ships that's taking them down with one fucking shot?!" Stella gawked as she used her cyberbrain to replay her own view of the initial ship's destruction in slow motion... Something was being dropped onto them from above, and at a very high velocity too.

"Wesker's orbital kinetic bombardment system!" Sheva was clearly laughing her ass off inside of Rico now, and they all watched the entire fleet getting wiped out in rapid succession by the thirty foot long tungsten projectiles being shot at them from the weaponized satellite. "I hacked into it with Big J and rerouted it's field of fire to hit their entire fleet for us!"

"Okay, that's genius. I am very impressed, indeed!" Tobias started to laugh too, clapping his hands as the last ship exploded from a direct hit to the superstructure itself. "Now, time for us to find the Ogre and that damn facility. Val, are we clear to start searching?"

"All sectors clear, no more threats in the vicinity. We're heading out!" Valentine replied. "Mom, lock in the co-ordinates of the facility. Koko, sync the Maidens with us, they're coming up behind us now."

* * *

"Sir! All thirteen ships were destroyed in under a minute! The Nightfall didn't directly fire at them, only that damn mech of theirs and Tobias did any actual combat!"

"That's impossible!"

"Negative, sir! All of the ships have already crashed into the jungle, no outgoing distress signals detected from any of the crash sites yet!"

"Get that damn monstrosity online, we're taking those fucking bioweapons down!"

"Right away sir!"

* * *

"There, I can see the facility's surface structures!" Sheva reported from the bow of the Nightfall, standing beside Rico, who was scanning the area for activity while she was scouring the compound with her mask's integrated monocular. "Looks like they've got some sort of flat metal panels in the open, must be for the Ogre to be deployed from underground."

"I agree, those look a lot like the oversized freight elevators we've seen at other known Umbrella facilities. They have a habit of building huge complexes beneath their facilities, usually for research divisions and storage. So I wouldn't put it past them to have build a hangar for the Ogre down there." Tobias reported from the command deck with everyone else. "You two will need to come back inside the ship, just in case they try using any ordnance that could get through the ship's shielding."

"On my way, Rico, you and I will raise a lotta hell once we're good for another Titanfall."

"Absolutely." Rico chuckled as they both went to the Nightfall's own lift and went down to the hangar deck, and Sheva hurried back to the command deck once Rico was back in his bay.

"Anti-aircraft defences detected. Looks like SAM launchers and 20mm MG's scattered around the roofs and perimeter fencelines." Yuuki reported as her display was filled by targetting reticles over the weapons. "There's also a couple of tanks at the far end of the compound, T105's by the look of it. Might also have some BTR-3's too, I just can't see them from our current position."

Tabitha snickered slightly, glancing over at Tobias, who smirked knowingly.

"So they've got some toys. Big deal. I want everyone to gear up for a ripe royal clusterfuck, we're going to bombard the facility with everything we're packing, then we'll drop the soldier-bots to mop up while the dumbasses try to get the Ogre deployed." Valentine announced, just as Sheva arrived in the command deck behind him.

"What about me and Rico?"

"Because the ship's going to be raining hell of it's own, I can't let the two of you go down there, you'd get blown to bits, and last time I checked, I don't like the idea of seeing you splattered over some rubble."

"What about me? Don't you care about me too, Valentine?" Rico's voice was clearly teasing as he spoke over the ship's intercom. "Oh wait... I'm not squishy like Sheva, I can be fixed."

"Since their whole fleet is currently burning in the jungle, are we at risk of being boarded?" Mao asked, but Valentine could only shrug in reply.

"If they manage to get past our weapons, and the shields, just to drop off one chopper worth of troops onto the deck, then yeah, they can board us. I'd wish them the best of luck though. The chances of them succeeding even _once_ are not very likely, but they're also not impossible either."

"Alright, Rachael, Yuuki, light'em up!" Tobias pointed at the facility through the front windows. "Nightfall, engage combat mode."

"I'll handle the big shit, you take out the anti-air shit!" Rachael was already priming the railguns as Yuuki likewise initiated the missiles, mounted machine guns and even smirked as she enabled a large group of soldier-bots to act as security for the main deck on the small chances of them being boarded.

"Rico, you're more than welcome to join in from the main deck, y'know." Yuuki giggled as they both opened fire with varying degrees of loud sounds being heard through the front windows as the outgoing ordnance let loose onto their targets.

"My accuracy margins from this range are not favourable. If I wasn't based on Ion so much, I could easily use a Northstar rifle from this distance..." Rico teased Valentine, who caught on and tried not to crack a smile.

"Just get out there and shoot in their general direction, Rico." Valentine countered the tease in a tone that everyone knew he'd been had.

"T45 it is then." Rico replied, and clearly went to comply with the orders, because about three minutes later he appeared from the main deck's lift armed with his existing loadout of the Broadsword, Goliath and his C66, but instead of the Tac-3 he was carrying the T45 machine gun from his arsenal, and with it, he'd also brought the ammo mounts on his stomach area to carry more of the large drum magazines that went with the weapon. "Sheva, I can handle things for now, you rest up."

"I can handle a one-sided bombardment Rico." Sheva replied sassily, despite the slight panting in her voice after having ran the length of the ship twice now.

"But can you handle running back to me for a third time?"

"I... have an idea for that."

"Oh? Enlighten us all." Tobias seemed to more curious than everyone else, since, like Sheva, he'd run the length of the ship as well today.

"Val... how fast can one of these bots run when they're carrying something my size?" Sheva pointedly tapped her foot over one of the concealed panels for the security-bots they'd seen earlier.

"Fast enough to get you to Rico without a problem. But the crew-bots are faster, since they're not weighed down by weapons and armour plating."

"Then why the hell am I still here?" Sheva smirked, tilting her head slightly. "Rico, call one to pick me up and bring me to you."

"Orders sent, crew-bot is on the way now." Rico replied, still firing his T45 on the main deck. "It'll arrive at the command deck in about a minute and a half."

"Aren't there any closer ones?" Val asked, since if the bot was sprinting, it was coming from at least halfway up the ship for that timer.

"I think it's just walking. Not that I mind, gives me time to catch my breath anyway." Sheva shrugged, and sat on the armrest of Valentine's Captain's chair, idly admiring her view of Valentine's back and intense focus on piloting the ship's movements.

"I could carry you, y'know..." Tabitha grinned.

"You're _too fast_ , Mishka. Might hurt me in the process." Sheva laughed slightly. "Thanks for the offer though."

"Ordnance inbound! They're finally returning fire!" Yuuki reported, and everyone spun back to their stations in preparation for the first pair of missiles that were screaming towards the ship, only to suddenly veer away just before making contact. "What the fuck?! Was that the shields?!"

"Yeah, they got repelled." Valentine replied. "They're still live missiles though, so they'll fly off in whatever direction the shields send them until they run out of propellant and drop out of the sky."

"I have an idea." Rico spoke up as he reloaded his T45. "If I can grab one before it diverts course, I could throw it back at them as a means to sunder their morale."

"Just one?" Sheva laughed slightly. "You only have two hands, and even I saw how big those missiles are."

"That sounds like a challenge for me while I'm driving, anyone else in agreement there?" Rico chuckled right back.

"Bot's here. Have fun you two." Valentine heard the approaching faint clunks of the crew-bot's footsteps just before the doors opened to reveal the adorable robotic crewman performing a firm salute directed at Sheva.

"Right, you're taking me to Rico directly." Sheva approached the bot and it held out it's arms with a nod of its head before picking her up into a princess carry and gave a nod before turning back to the access corridor... and then sprinted away with rhythmic clunking footsteps.

"... Why was that such an amusing sight?" Tobias was clearly trying not to bust a gut laughing at the robot's hilarious departure.

* * *

"Marvin would be proud." Rico chuckled as Sheva arrived and he opened his cockpit for her to jump inside, leaving the saluting crew-bot to return to its post for the next order it received. "Not his Finest Hour proud, but proud nonetheless."

"Val, baby... you intentionally made the crew-bots to be so fucking adorable, didn't you?" Sheva narrowed her eyes at the comms feed in Rico's HUD, hearing Valentine chuckling at her comment.

" _M_ _aybe_."

"Well fuck you, you succeeded." Sheva pouted, then spotted one of the SAM launchers lining up another shot at the ship amidst the heavy bombardment from the twins. "SAM incoming, unknown trajectory!"

"I got it." Rico replied, sealing the canopy around her and depositing his T45 onto his lower back, the only place it could go since the Broadsword was included into his arsenal's storage chassis system. "Girls, leave these missiles to me, I have an ongoing bet to deal with."

"I left the SAM alone because of it." Yuuki replied with a giggle. "Otherwise those bastards would be red mist and puddles by now."

"Duely noted, thank you." Rico replied as the missiles came streaming through the air headed straight for him, and he'd already calculated their point of contact. "Valentine, disable the shields _now_!"

Valentine did just that, hurriedly unchecking the shielding controls onto his access panel as the two missiles went right for Rico, which against his better judgement, was the intended plan in the first place. "They're down! Don't fuck up, you're carrying my girlfriend, remember?"

"You doubt your own creation?" Rico teased as he waited out the distance tracker on the missiles. Almost...

"I brought you into this world, I can certainly take you out of it." Valentine countered, just as Rico lunged forward and grabbed both missiles, one in each hand, and easily swung them back around while the thruster was still burning violently. "Shields coming back up to boost their outgoing velocity. Three seconds."

"Fuck it, just chuck it." Rico replied, which earned a raccous of laughter from Yuuki and Rachael at his use of their own joke, and he bodily threw both missiles like javelins right back at the SAM launcher they came from, which destroyed it in the first impact, and killed all of the survivors with the second. "Shields back online, resuming suppressing fire with T45."

As Rico was reaching for his T45, he opened the cockpit for Sheva when he detected her trying to get a look at something through all of the smoke, dust and debris down at the Syndicate facility. "See it now?"

"Not sure, my HUD's not meant for long range like this, and especially not through smoke on top of that. I swear I saw something moving near the two tanks that Yuuki destroyed first..."

"Nothing on thermal, no Virus detected... Are you sure, Sheva?" Yuuki reported right away. "Just some sort of movement, right?"

"It was definitely not the smoke or the fire. It was too fast." Sheva focused her monocular between the two burning tanks, and spotted what she dreaded the most, and expected the least...

"We've got a new Syndicate Titan on our hands! It's _not_ the Ogre!" Sheva immediately reached over her head to yank the manual lever to seal herself into the cockpit as she spotted the Titan standing to full height and run out into the open.

It was a Northstar this time.

"Sheva, I see it! Fuckin' Viper wannabe, do they honestly think they can get up here in the first place?" Yuuki lined up a shot at the Titan, but Rachael's hand shot out to grab her wrist, drawing her gazes to her twin's scarlet eyes.

"It's a Titan. Sheva's the one that gets to make the call on this one. Not even Val can argue with her decision for fighting other Titans."

"I'm detecting a radio signal, they're hailing us." Motoko announced. "Sheva, patching it through to you and Rico now."

"So... The Nightfall. And the big boy Rico himself, with his little Pilot girl too." The thick Russian accent that came through the line in English was female, a slightly older hint to her voice as the distant Northstar model rested the Titan's distinctive sniper rifle onto one shoulder with a pair of wings unfolding behind the spherical cockpit. "I an Lieutenant Sasha Volgovitch, I already know your name, child. Unlike you, I didn't appear on television to stroke my ego."

"Wasn't my ego I was stroking." Sheva's lips widened very slightly into a smile behind her T-15's mask within Rico's cockpit. "So, Sasha, gonna save me the trouble of going down to the hangar deck to do a proper Titanfall? I know what your Titan is based on, and I especially want to fight you the original way, if you know what I mean."

"Hmph... Unlike Viper, I won't need two Scorch to get between us. I'll even do you the courtesy of preparing your weapons before I take off. I already know you have quite an arsenal of toys for the big boy. And my husband's sword too."

"I do _not_ understand what you saw in that obnoxious man..." Sheva taunted as she took over manual control of Rico and dropped the T45 in favour of the C66. "But I'm ready to add that sniper rifle to my toy box whenever you are." Sheva added the last sentence in Russian as she pulled back the C66's intimidation pump, which was a mockery of pump action shotguns and their infamously heart stopping rechambering sound. "Oh, and I'll even drop the ship's shields for you. It's just you, me, Rico and your flying tin can Mike Wazowski."

Valentine grimaced at the idea of a duel on the main deck, but this was a Titan duel, and his own rule of letting it fall into Sheva's control was coming back to bite him in the ass... But, he disabled the shields anyway, and received nods from everyone else that they'd stay out of the duel if they could help it.

Sasha's Northstar rose into the air right away, and Motoko started to scan it as soon as it was out of the smoke clouds, and when the hologram appeared on the main display for everyone to see, Valentine noticed something right away that actually impressed him.

"Magno Core." Valentine pointed at the 'stomach' of the Northstar, where the segmented armour plating was very different than the Ronin back in Nevada. It was similar to the inner plating layer that Rico had beneath his outer hull. "That explains how the turbine engines are powered. Wings for flight, rifle for range, ammo's probably stored in those pods on the bottom of the cockpit ball, doesn't look like she's got more than two dozen projectiles for the rifle. It's clearly not mag nor drum fed. Looks like it's... breech loaded."

"It's a fucking railgun, isn't it?" Yuuki scowled at the dangerous potential of a weapon like that... Case in point the huge plumes of smoke to their starboard side.

"Rico's sonic countermeasures might be able to divert the shots, but I know for a fact his hull won't protect Sheva from a direct shot." Valentine visibly gulped, wishing he'd designed the ship's magnetic shielding differently... and installed them into Rico first. "And I can't shake the feeling that both Sheva and Sasha know that fact... It's not gonna be what we expect it to... I can at least guarantee that as a fact."

"Val, baby, trust me... This won't play out like with the original Viper fight. I have an idea." Sheva spoke directly to Val's earpiece with her DNI instead of the currently open comms line with both the Nightfall and to Sasha. "And it certainly isn't going to cost me an entire Titan and a S.E.R.E evacuation either. I'll be fine, I promise."

Valentine would never admit it for the rest of his life, but in that private moment of reassurance... Her absolute certainty was the only reason he didn't bring the shields back online...

* * *

"HOW LONG?!"

"We've deployed Lieutenant Sasha Volgovitch with that Northstar Titan of hers to buy time in distracting the Nightfall with a duel, just like with the Ronin prototype in America. The little girl that's piloting that pretentious Titan of theirs has a thing for dueling other Titans alone. Look at the ship, it hasn't redirected any of it's weapons away from the facility, and yet Lieutenant Volgovitch is clearly flying straight towards the bow of the ship from directly in front of them."

"How long until that behemoth of Madame Wesker's is online?! I want it to take down the ship before they cause further destruction right over our heads!"

"I don't have a definite answer, sir. This Ogre weapon requires munitions to be loaded, and to activate the magnetic cores themselves for the first time... and that alone wil take at least ten minutes. Then we need to deploy it to the elevator itself, and that's also a slow event, so unless Volgovitch can buy us at least thirty minutes, we won't have much of a chance to deploy the Ogre at all!"

"Get Albert Wesker on the phone, right now."

* * *

"You and me, little girl. No ship involvement except for you to stand on it. Dah?" Sasha spoke in their radio line as she hovered ahead of the Nightfall's bow with her rifle held in both hands, having already loaded a projectile into the chamber on her way up.

"Good luck with that knockoff. At least Rico's completely original by design." Sheva taunted as she leveled the C66 at the hovering Titan, barely a hundred meters ahead of the ship and easily keeping pace with the Nightfall's circling around the pillar of smoke being given off by the facility below.

"You're under the impression my use of the Titan's name from the game was in imitation of it. Nyet, it's homage to a predecessor, unlike the name my husband's Titan was forcibly given by that fucking Kraut." Sasha replied before cutting off the radio line and charging up her rifle as she broke away from her lazy hovering to begin their duel.

"Full defense systems, Rico. Bitch has a railgun, neither of us are gonna survive a direct impact from that thing." Sheva immediately dodged a swing of Sasha's foot as she tried to fly over Rico's head and kick his Broadsword out of the mount on his upper back. "And she wants your sword back, so I say we clip the bird's wings and give her what she wants."

"Hence your choice of the C66 instead of the T45, despite it also being low on ammunition at the moment." Rico noted as all of his defensive systems came online and he locked onto Sasha with Big J, so even if she flew below the ship's keel, they wouldn't be able to lose track of her. "Motoko and Valentine are sending a scan of her Titan now." Rico announced just as the data was input into their DNI itself, and both of them already knew what their scan's results had found. "I thought I saw those... She's barely got a dozen projectiles on her, and knowing her intention to get the sword, I think she wants to avenge her husband by using it on us the same way I took him out with it in the first place."

"She's only packing half her ammo limit?" Sheva had watched Sasha manually loading the first projectile into her rifle when she initially approached, so that lead her to believe that she also knew her weapon's firepower... "She's not gonna shoot us, is she?"

"Like I said, she wants the sword. She's trying to fight emotionally, and that will be our advantage over her." Rico replied as Sheva dodged another passing kick overhead that targeted the sword. "I say we whip it out at the last second and attack her for her next attempt."

"Good idea, her Northstar's not full-manual like the Ronin, so she can keep this up all day until she gets the sword from us." Sheva replied, since Valentine's note about the stomach hiding a Magno Core also lead her to consider that the Northstar had an AI to assist Sasha too. "And this is one advantage of being a lefty... You're driving now, throw her off."

"Easy." Rico chuckled as Sasha stopped circling around for her next pass when she seemed to notice things shifting around on Rico's back...

Unlike Sheva, Rico was ambidexterous... and so were all of the weapons they used.

"You think letting the big boy swap to a right handed grip will throw me off like that, little girl?" Sasha spoke up in the radio line as she connected it again, then swooped in headfirst towards them. "Think again!"

"Don't need to." Sheva replied with an admittedly cocky smirk.

Sasha's eyes widened behind her helmet as she realized what Rico was about to do, so instead of going to grab the sword she lowered her trajectory just enough to change to a flight driven tackle around Rico's torso and sent them careening across the main deck punching and jabbing her knee into whatever she could make contact with after accidentally letting go of her railgun during the initial impact.

"Rico, you good?" Sheva shook her head as she fought off the angry pilot on top of Rico, unable to get free from her current pin over her left arm and leg. Rico gave an annoyed sigh in reply as Sasha punched his armoured canopy with each hand alternatively, with the accompanying shuddering thuds with the impacts on the hull.

"She's surprisingly heavy for such a thin chassis."

"She's using her jet engines to push down on you. She's not heavy, she's just adding resistance." Valentine reported in the comms line. "Dad's gonna tell you how to get out of her pin."

"No, Toby, please... I got this." Sheva immediately refused. "This is my fight!"

"Your fight... My war." Toby didn't like to admit it, but Sheva was right. Those were forty foot robots, he was six foot seven. Even for him there was quite a risk factor. "And I do recall that I'm not the only person aboard this ship with revolvers as sidearms..."

"Left arm's pinned by her fat ass. Gun's on my left leg." Rico reported. "And my missile pods can't tilt forward enough to hit her, let alone the risk of literally blowing up in our faces..."

"THAT'S IT! RICO! BLOW HER FACE OFF!" Sheva yelled in triumph as Rico chuckled slightly.

"Don't say I didn't warn you."

Sasha couldn't get to her husband's sword from her current position on top, so she resorted to pummeling the cockpit while forcing the left-handed brat's arm and leg to stay pinned beneath her jet-assisted pin. She would tear her out of the damn thing and tear her in half right in front of her cocky Titan and freakshow family too!

So the last thing she expected was for a sudden explosion to send her flying backwards across the deck with several blaring alarms about hull damage as the brat's Titan got to his feet ahead of her and retrieved her husband's sword from his back... left-handed. It was the girl, not the Titan.

"Here. We already know you want to use it on us the same way we did for your jackass husband. Otherwise you'd have shot us immediately instead of trying to kick us in the head like that to knock the sword out of the mounting bracket." Sheva's voice came through the radio line as the sword was casually tossed onto the deck of the ship between them. "Or you could make a move for your rifle instead, in which case I'll cut you down with the sword. Unlike both you and your husband, I have more than one weapon at my disposal, including a dedicated sidearm at all times."

"You still think I'm like a Northstar from the game, don't you?" Sasha laughed darkly as a pair of pods on the top of her cockpit opened to reveal she had six missiles, all with blue warheads. "This isn't a Flight Core, child."

"Sheva, whatever you do, do _not_ let that hit me..." Rico already knew what those missiles were, and had suppressed the blaring alarm in his system that would have blocked Sheva's view on his HUD. "EMP missiles. The ship will be fine, but I would be forced to do a reboot, and yes, it'll hurt like a bitch for you too."

"What about her? Can't we divert it back at her?" Sheva was not expecting something like that, and couldn't figure out a way to determine the firing system of Sasha's pods. Were they single fire? homing? rapid-fire like a real Flight Core? Would they dumb-fire in a straight line? Fly erratically? Too many unknown variables to think about, and there was also the problem of the EMP charge damaging the Magno Core that was concealed within her own arm... or worse, her DNI, which was in fact directly connected to her brain.

"She's too close, I wouldn't be able to react in time." Rico replied. "She's only got six, so she's not going to fire foolishly, even in her known emotionally driven state. She's gonna want to make sure we're unable to avoid a hit."

"Oh, that lack of reaction shows me you two weren't expecting me to have these." Sasha suddenly reopened the radio line. "So fuck the gun, fuck the sword, I'm just going to pluck your fucking nigger hide out of that lifeless hull myself and throw y..."

Sheva never heard Rico and Valentine screaming for her to stop.

* * *

 **A/N: Before anyone gets caught up on what Sasha just said, I want to make it very clear that her racist comment was intended to insult Sheva, nothing more. I actually didn't want to include it, but couldn't find a replacement insult that would have the same driving force behind it as such blatant racism would.**


	56. Chapter 56

**A/N: Reason for my slight hiatus; I moved.**

* * *

In those fateful moments, Sheva had yanked the manual lever to open the canopy, unholstered her Auto-Wing and jumped straight out of Rico's opened cockpit and manually lined up the gun with the EMP missile that Sasha had just fired, pulling the trigger in an utterly blinding rage.

Her shot struck the warhead right between the two Titans, both reaching out to grab her as the blast went off, sending her small, airborne form flying in the most unexpected direction... Off the side of the ship.

Rico took the EMP in full, slumping down onto the deck with a thundering crash, completely offline as Sasha laughed in triumph and turned to watch Sheva's distant Boost Pack adjustments to slow her freefall.

"Might want to consider EMP shielding when the big boy comes back online, little Valentine." Sasha flipped her Titan's middle finger off at the command deck before turning to follow after Sheva. "I'll be sure to make it quick... if she even survived the fall."

Sasha jumped overboard with a sadistic laugh before flying away and switching back to the Syndicate comms line. "The brat's on her way down to the jungle, I want all of my support infantry to scour the designated region I've just sent to you. I'll be waiting on the ground at Rally Point Alpha, she is to be found immediately. If she even survived, then I have the claim to finish her off myself. Nobody is to touch her, dead or alive. Is that understood?"

"Dah, Lieutenant. We are on our way to your location now."

* * *

" _VALENTINE_!" Tobias prided himself as a father for never raising his voice at any of his children, but he had to crank the Darkwood intimidation up to eleven just to stop Valentine long enough to look at him. And he luckily succeeded, with his son standing right at the edge of the still opening keel cargo lift. "Koko's confirmed she's alive, don't go alone... please."

It was that moment, one of only a rare handful to ever occur in his whole life, that Tobias felt true fear. As Valentine slowly turned his torso to make eye contact with his father, his solidly glowing white eyes were paired by a deadpan, cold, menacing expression on Valentine's face... and in that moment, Tobias Dimitri Darkwood realized that he wasn't speaking to his son, Valentine Balilaika Darkwood, anymore.

He was staring Death right in the face.

* * *

Sheva groaned as she slowly opened her eyes, finding herself in the humid jungle with her back against something solid, already sweating profusely.

Sheva knew instinctively she was already wounded from her less-than-stellar landing through the trees. But she wasn't willing to try moving anything except for her right arm and her eyes until she could determine the extend of her injuries. And right now... she couldn't feel any pain. But she _knew_ she was wounded.

Shit.

"Sheva to Nightfall, come in." Sheva used her DNI instead of wasting her breath talking into her radio. It was online, for sure, although Rico was still rebooting from the EMP and couldn't reply.

"Koko here, you alright, hun?" Koko's voice came through immediately. "C'mon, talk to me, I already have your location, we're prepping bots for a drop to secure you. That bitch clearly wants to finish you off herself when she finds you."

"I can't feel anything below my ribcage, breathing's a bit sharp, but I'm good on that. DNI's fine, T-15 seemed to survive the fall too, but I'm scared to try moving in case I fuck myself up worse than I already am."

"Can you at least try moving your toes for me?" Koko requested, and Sheva did just that, feeling a searing pain in her left leg after attempting it following her initial check of her right. " _Fuck_! I felt _that_! Right leg's fine, think I broke my left. Hang on, gonna have a look to see what it's like."

Sheva carefully tilted her head downwards then flipped it back up to open her T-15's mask, freeing her vision to take in the extent of her leg injury.

"Not as bad as I felt, but yeah, I'm not going anywhere fast." Sheva scowled, then noticed her Auto-Wing was laying under her injured leg. "At the very least, I need to grab that."

"Grab what?" Koko asked.

"My gun, my left leg's on top of it. Oh, fuck this is gonna hurt." Sheva gritted her teeth as she grasped her left hand under her knee and lifted it to slide the gun closer with her heel, earning a held-in scream and several large tears in her eyes, but she was quick to grasp her weapon and check it over for damage.

"You alright? Valentine's already stormed off to the hangar deck... and Tobias chased after him, so that doesn't seem good."

"Yup, I knew it'd hurt before I did it." Sheva fought back the tears with willpower alone, then quickly cleared her eyes so she could see properly and concluded that her gun was still functional, so she flicked her head downwards this time and recovered her face with her T-15's mask, bringing up the HUD and assessing the suit's own damages. "I'm sitting against a rocky cliff, I have tree cover for the flying bitch, pretty dense shrubbery around me, so I can at least drag myself out of the open for now. How's Rico?"

"Well, he's flat on his face on the main deck... and even for Valentine's handiwork, this did a serious number on him. I do at least confirm he's still rebooting right now. It's been about six minutes since you blew the bitch's missile up with your gun. By the way..."

"Manually, believe it or not." Sheva already knew Koko's question about her method of attaining such accuracy. "Fucking racist bitch, I just... snapped."

"How about the rest of you? Just your leg hurt?" Koko chose not to pursue the triggering topic.

"Metal arm's gonna need some boyfriend attention, and I want to at least list I might have gotten a concussion on the way down through the trees, my head is killing me."

"You have tech implanted into the back of your head, sweet cheeks. That'd be from the EMP more than an impact." Koko chuckled slightly. "Alright, find somewhere to hide from the flying bitch, I'm pretty sure Valentine's coming personally to find you. I've just sent all of this to Tobias, hopefully that can stave Valentine off the warpath long enough to let someone come with him."

"Is there anything you can do to help Rico faster?" Sheva asked hopefully as she noticed a good spot to hide inside of a nearby fallen tree's hollowed out alcove against the side of the cliff. She began to drag herself on her side, staying low, and refused to move her legs at all, dragging herself with roaring agony in her left leg until she was safely underneath the tree.

"I've done what I can, it's still mostly his internal systems and his Magno Core. I'm surprised his Core didn't shut down completely from that." Koko noted.

"I'm surprised I even survived that damn freefall with only a broken leg and a possible concussion." Sheva commented dryly, then heard a shift in the wildlife sounds around her. "Koko, Val's not here yet is he?"

"No... You've got company." Koko noted that none of the ship's systems indicated that Valentine had even so much as boldly jumped out of the keel cargo lift, let alone launched any aircraft from the hangar. "Big J's good, but I can't pinpoint people through such dense jungle. But... I _can_ look out for her Northstar, I'll keep you posted. Don't die on us, Val might tear the ship in half."

Sheva knew she was hidden, both from above and from a lazy search on the ground, but she still shrank deeper into her hidey-hole as she detected infantry approaching from about thirty degrees to her left. They were speaking in Russian, so she listened in to their chatter.

"Broken tree limbs, up there. Must've landed around here somewhere. Lieutenant, this is Sergant Kamrov, we've found her landing spot, she's not here at all. She's alive, beginning sector sweep."

Sheva was thankful that she hadn't bled when her leg broke, and she'd been in the underbrush long before they got here, so what traces that could possibly be there weren't likely to find right away.

"Look here... Dirt's scraped, looks like a boot imprint, here."

Shit.

"Yeah, and it's going that way..."

Suddenly the three voices fell silent, only the surrounding wildlife could be heard for a moment until approaching footsteps joined the first group.

"Lieutenant's on her way, so this is the landing area for the bitch?"

"It looks like she went somewhere this way." The second of the first group's voices spoke up. "Found a footprint, here, sir."

"Looks like she did it to get herself moving, going backwards... Must have a leg wound. She can't be far. You two, go that way and check for more tracks. The rest of us will stay here for the Lieutenant and search for more traces of the bitch."

Sheva suddenly felt the ground rumbling with heavy thuds... Sasha was coming.

"Sergeant, report." Sasha's voice came through the trees with her Northstar's external speakers, accompanied by the sound of her cockpit unsealing right after she spoke.

"Initial impact zone, ma'am. I sent two men that way after we found a footprint that we believe reveals she is wounded in the leg, and has been dragging herself away through the low plants. Everyone else here has just arrived, including yourself and Unit 4."

"100 meter radius of this point, then we leave before the damn bioweapons send a rescue team to try finding her. We have to get back under the facility before they deploy the Ogre to take on their damn ship." Sasha ordered curtly.

"And yourself, ma'am? Your Titan's rifle is still on their ship, isn't it?"

"I'll be fine. Bring her back with you when you find her, doesn't matter what condition she's in."

"Yes, ma'am."

With that, the sound of Sasha's cockpit resealing reached Sheva's ears and with it the thuds of her Titan walking a short distance away before her jet engines fired up and she flew overhead to possibly oversee the search, leaving Sheva surrounded by her infanty teams that were still searching the foliage for more tracks and signs of her presence.

" _Sheva._ "

Sheva knew right away that Rico was back online, and felt a tear returning to her eyes as she replied in her DNI to him.

"I'm surrounded by at least four teams of infantry, and the bitch is flying around above too. I'm hiding in a broken tree, and I'm stuck with a broken leg right now. How about you?"

" _Central core is back online, rerouting power to vital systems to accelerate reboot process._ " Rico replied, then seemed to clear his throat pointedly. " _Personality's back, I'm good. I hate the 'matter-of-fact' version of me. BT can pull it off nicely, I however, cannot. How're you doing on ammo?_ "

"I'm good, hiding is the better option right now. Not enough bullets for this bullshit, y'know?"

" _Well, if it's any comfort to you... Valentine just jumped out of the keel cargo lift and is currently in freefall. He's... Um..._ "

"Is he alright?" Sheva felt a shiver of concern going up her spine, but then Tobias' voice joined the DNI line.

"You two are the only ones I am saying this to, nobody else is to ever hear this... But that _wasn't_ my son jumping out of the ship just now... I have no idea what's coming for you, and I can't even guarantee your safety either... I'm sorry."


	57. Chapter 57

All 32 infantry warily watched the Nightfall and the four new smaller ships pass overhead, none of the craft made any hostile moves, nor changed course even slightly from their existing lazy circling of the burning facility. It wasn't until Sasha landed her Titan nearby and marched over to the rally point that anything noteworthy happened, which was her arrival in an annoyed mood.

"No signs of her from the air, anything new to report on the ground?"

"Negative, ma'am..." Sergeant Kamrov tilted his head back to address her, and suddenly noticed a small black dot plummeting towards them through a gap in the trees above her. "CONTACT OVERHEAD!"

Everyone scrambled for cover, and Sasha scooped up the Sergeant into one hand before covering him with her other arm and ducking to the side as the object made a resonating impact that sent all of the infantry flying back several yards, and even made her Titan stumbled into the side of the cliff with the Sergeant still in her grasp.

They all directed weapons at the middle of the dust cloud from the impact, waiting for it to reveal itself as... a person.

But not just any person... They all thought only one person could survive a freefall like that... But it wasn't that person. It was his son...

Valentine.

"So... little Valentine himself graces us with his presence... That must mean she's nearby after all."

"Ma'am... his eyes..." Sergeant Kamrov noticed how Valentine's normally blue eyes were a spine-chilling white glow. "He's entered some sort of state we've never even seen him use before."

"Hmmm... Not in the right state of mind, is he? How amusing. He can't face a Titan, no matter what state he's in!" Sasha laughed arrogantly as she put the Sergeant down onto the ground and marched towards Valentine, who only barely turned his head to the side, and up slightly, to acknowledge her approach. Otherwise, he hadn't moved since they confirmed he was what had dropped from the Nightfall. "The little nigger didn't last long against me, what makes you think you will too, you fucking fairy?" Sasha spoke in English to Valentine as she reeled her fist back to punch him. "LET'S SEE IF YOU CAN OUTLAST HER!"

With an almighty crash and cloud of dust, her fist slammed into the spot where Valentine had been standing, but as she withdrew her arm, she was greeted by the sight of Valentine standing on the back of her hand, putting on some sort of metal glove onto his left hand.

"YOU CHEEKY PIECE OF SHIT!" Sasha swung her arm back wildly to dislodge him, and in doing so thought she'd thrown him up into the air, but watched as he seemed to almost glide in a gentle arc to the nearest tree branch, still staring directly at her sensor pod in that same deadpan, expressionless, glowing-white-eyed stare, barely even blinking. "OPEN FIRE ON HIM!"

32 assault rifles were brought to bear on the white haired and eyed teenager standing on the sturdy tree branch. It was at this point that the 34 people presently observing him noted that he wasn't wearing his usual sleeveless black shirt, nor his white hoodie that went with it to cover his usually hidden Quinque Steel corset-like body armour. That armour was on full display, and his exposed arms and upper back strongly showed off his muscle tone in an astonishingly masculine way that strongly contrasted with his distinctively androgynous appearance.

"Koko, hack my phone with Big J, make it play the song called Waking The Demon. Have it broadcast from Val's radio, I can see it on his hip." Sheva spoke in her DNI on the existing line, and Koko immediately knew that it held some sort of reason to be chosen at this particular moment for Valentine.

"Should start playing... Now." Koko replied as she finished typing and pressed the play command... Only to realize that Rico had just stopped the signal suddenly. "Or not... Rico, how're you feeling?"

" _I have something better in mind. Trust me._ " Rico's voice joined the line, bring out a happy tear in Sheva's eyes as she listened to the sounds of gunfire and thundering crashes from Sasha and her men to try and land a successful strike on Valentine, with little luck.

"How long until you're fully online again?"

" _Minute and a half, maybe two._ " Rico replied. " _All vital systems are up and running, still trying to get the fuck up. Yuuki, I require a lot of Aced Inspire right now. Think you could help? I got Taser'd._ "

"You smartass!" Yuuki yelled back, ignoring Rachael's laughter beside her as she waved her hand in an upwards, flat palmed gesture. "GET THE FUCK UP!"

With a mechanical rumbling and a fist pounded onto the deck's surface to push himself upwards, Rico hauled himself to his feet and sealed his armoured canopy as he glanced in the direction that his existing lock onto Sasha's Northstar gave away her position.

"Drive me closer... I want to hit her with my sword." Rico glanced back to the command deck as he spoke on an open channel to the entire Nightfall crew. "And my fists. And my shotgun. And my foot..."

"Do _that_." Valentine's voice suddenly came through the line, sounding very menacing, monotone and a lot deeper than his usual uptilted Russian accent. He almost sounded like Tobias. "I'll keep her busy, you _drop in_ and say hi."

" _Cute, you think I have anything polite to say to her._ " Rico replied as he retrieved his fallen weapons and paused at the sight of the railgun sniper rifle. " _Not even gonna say thanks for the rifle she left me_."

"SHE HIT YOU WITH IT!" Sheva snapped.

" _That's why I'm refusing to say it_." Rico laughed as the Nightfall banked around to his provided location data.

"I ORDER YOU TO THANK HER FOR THE RIFLE!"

Back on the ground, Valentine had killed 14 of the soldiers, and used several of their own grenades to cripple Sasha's legs by jamming the unpinned grenades into gaps in between her leg servo's armour plating at the knee, and had spent most of his previous dodging antics leaving behind a network of nearly translucent nanowires that came from his glove on his left hand, and made sure that he didn't trigger the specific line that would apply all of the necessary amounts of tension to the rest of the wires that were laying in wait for the right trigger.

Sliding on his knee past two surviving soldiers, he smoothly grabbed the knife out of a fallen soldier's shoulder sheath as he went by, then flicked his wrist to impale one of them in the throat before reaching the nearby tree and swinging around the trunk in a horizontal two-foot kick aimed at the back of the second soldier's head.

With a dull crunch, the kick made contact, severed the man's neck and let Valentine use the crumpling corpse as a springboard to fluidly dodge an incoming punch from Sasha to land right on top of the fallen tree where Sheva was hiding.

" _Valentine, we're in position, tell me when to jump_." Rico spoke up into his earpiece.

" _Now_." Valentine replied in the same low, menacing, very masculine voice as he pointedly stepped backwards to snag the hidden wire he needed, just as Sasha came running over with her arm pulled back for another swing...

And stopped dead in her tracks with an almighty lurch and creaking of both trees and metal simultaneously.

" _Wires_?!" Sasha snarled as she strugged to untangle herself from the faintly glinting lines of light wrapped around her Titan's hull. "What the _fuck_ are you trying to pull on me, you fucking fairy!?"

"He's not pulling anything." Sheva spoke up in the open comms line for Sasha and the Nightfall. "I am."

"WHERE THE FUCK ARE YOU, YOU LITTLE NIGG..."

Sasha never got to find out where Sheva had been hiding, because the next thing she knew, there was an almighty crash right on top of her that caved in the canopy of her cockpit and caused her world to explode in agonizing pain.

When she came back to reality, she was in excruciating pain, and most of the cockpit was beyond repair. So she weakly reached her less-injured arm towards the manual release lever, only for the whole canopy to be torn off with a sickening screeching and creaking of straining metal to reveal that Rico was now present, and staring down from atop the Titan's head were Valentine and the little bitch herself.

"Not really one for theatrics, personally." Rico commented as he pointedly held up the crushed canopy in one hand before crushing it into his giant fist and tossed it aside. "Too bad she missed my grand entrance too, guess I'll just give her what she wanted from the start..."

"Not yet." Sheva spoke up to stop her Titan. "You should at least show her what Val did to her grunts, since we've still kept pretty true to the original Viper fight by tearing off her canopy like that."

"If she pukes on me, I demand that you clean it off my hull in a bikini." Rico grabbed the top of the mangled spherical cockpit in his free hand and turned the limp Titan around to present the defeated pilot with the sight of Valentine's wire massacre.

All of the infantry, including the already dead ones, were sliced with laser-like precision by the sudden lethally fast tension that the wires had when he'd touched the wire he needed to pin her Titan into position for Rico to land feet first on top of her, blaring the classic Dukes of Hazzard General Lee car horn as he made contact with a powerful shockwave.

Sasha wasn't even able to muster the energy for a reaction, she just slumped forward in defeat and weakly tried to pull her pistol from her leg holster, unsuccessfully tugging it against the holding strap several times until Rico tossed the whole chassis onto it's back and caused her to scream in agony before realizing he was standing over top of her with her husband's sword now in his hand.

"I've been _ordered_ to thank you for the new sniper rifle... But I feel pretty good about disobeying the order. Fuck _you_ , and fuck off... Cyka." Rico shoved the sword straight through the back of the cockpit, vertically slicing Sasha's head and torso cleanly in half before yanking it roughly back out and pointedly raised his huge foot to stomp on the cockpit. "And nobody has the right to call my pilot _any_ racial slurs." He ground his heel back and forth to rub add insult to injury as he added. "Not even _once_."


	58. Chapter 58

The next day, after arriving at school with Valentine, she knew right away that there wasn't any fresh gossip to go around because as soon as people spotted her, they made a beeline towards her, a cacophony of questions about her crutches to demands to confirm the rumours of supposedly unconfirmed sightings of her involved in the crazy flying battleship that everyone saw in DC over the weekend.

Brushing off the near-feral demands for her attention, Sheva made her way through their ranks until a specific voice spoke up over the snappy snarling comments.

"So how did it feel when you murdered both of my parents, you monster?"

Sheva paused, and nearby, Valentine's gaze flicked towards the boy that had spoken, sounding quite a bit like the Ronin pilot from Nevada, rather than having a Russian accent like Sasha did.

"Did it feel good? Make you feel important?" The boy's commentary caused the crowded hall to part in an instant, revealing that he was standing with one strap of his backpack hanging limply while the one on his shoulder was casually gripped in his fingers to strongly contrast with his tone and expression.

"What are you talking about?" Sheva pivoted herself around on her crutches to regard the slightly tall guy with dark hair and a narrowed gaze.

"Lieutenant Sasha Volgovitch, and Captain Carter Volgovitch. My parents. The pilots of the Northstar and Ronin Class Titans that you attacked in that walking metallic ego. The one that's on the other end of that device on the back of your neck. You killed both of my parents, I want to know how you feel about it."

"Might come as a surprise to you..." Valentine began, but Sheva held up her hand in front of him to silence him immediately.

"I may have been in the cockpit for your father, but unlike both of their Titans, my walking metallic ego is sentient and can operate without me inside. His name is Rico, and he holds the credit of both your parents' defeats. Your mother actually defeated us and threw me over the side of the flying battleship we were fighting on. I broke my leg on the way through the trees below, and by the way, Rico wasn't destroyed in that fight, just temporarily disabled. He came back online and finished the duel without me even inside of him, so if you've got a problem with it, why don't you ask him yourself?" She pulled out her phone and turned her gaze towards the device. "Rico, hack it the same way you did for Yuuki and Rachael's birthday."

With a flicker, the screen came to life to reveal the front of Rico's head's sensor pod, then zoomed out before - a drone, clearly - hovering backwards to reveal his presence more clearly.

"So what's this I hear about someone having a problem with my handiwork?" Rico asked through the phone speakers.

"You're her other half?" Volgovitch sneered at the device being presented to him.

"In a manner of speaking, _yes_. You're the brat of the two Titan pilots I dealt with?" Rico tilted his whole head slightly forward, almost like he was intently staring at the boy.

"I am Nickolai Volgovitch, son of Sasha and Carter."

"Well, kid, you talk anymore shit and I find out, you won't like me when I'm angry. Are we clear?" Rico lifted his arm from out of the frame and pointedly indicated his sword. "It's two for two right now, definitely itching for a Volgovitch three-piece. _Don't_ tempt me."

"You're just a machine, you cannot feel emotions, you only have ones and zeros." Nickolai scowled, but Rico laughed in reply.

"I'm not just a machine, kid. I'm linked to my Pilot in a way that would make your head spin to even comprehend. I can feel emotions quite clearly, and I can even feel her pain. Just because I operate with binary code doesn't mean I'm _just_ a machine. In fact, you seem to already know what I am, and definitely what I did over the weekend. Especially when the details of my whole weekend weren't even released to the rest of the BSAA yet. You understand what I'm getting at here, don't you, Nicky boy?"

"You're a _thing_." Nickolai sneered before spinning on his heel to walk away.

"And you're acting like a huge pussy. Make your point if you even have one, kid." Rico quipped right back.

"YOU KILLED MY PARENTS!" Nickolai spun back around and bellowed at the top of his voice at the phone, making every other student - save for Valentine and Sheva - step back in slight wariness.

"I know I did." Rico's drone hovered closer as Rico's head tilted to the side slightly. "So what're you gonna do about it... _pussy_?"

"Fuck you, you hunk of junk!" Nikolai snarled just as a teacher was weaving through the crowds, drawn in by the yelling.

"What's going on here?! You all should be in class!"

"You wouldn't understand anyway." Nikolai scowled before leaving. Sheva and Valentine both vanished into the crowds before anyone started asking about their involvement. Likewise, Rico ended the hack of Sheva's phone before he was seen on the screen too.

* * *

"So... how're your classes coming along, ladies?" One of the customers at the bar asked Yuuki and Rachael while they were serving drinks.

"Not too bad, college is a challenge we were expecting." Rachael replied, popping the caps off several beer bottles she'd placed onto a tray in preparation to bring to a table of tourists. "And some of our professors are really fun."

"Mind if I ask what you're taking?" He continued, sipping his tumbler of whiskey.

"General Arts and Sciences." Yuuki replied. "Both of us, we're doing it just to get ourselves into the college thing before we decide what the hell we're gonna actually study."

"That's a good start, what do you plan to take?"

"Dunno yet, we've only been in classes for just over a month." Yuuki replied as Rachael smoothly slid past her to deliver the tray of drinks. Her movements drew Yuuki's gaze towards the side for a moment, just as the door of the bar opened to reveal an oddly young guy with a backpack on one shoulder. "Yo, _you_! C'mere for a sec!"

He turned to see her staring at him pointedly, so he approached the bar with his hands casually in his pockets, his gaze flicking between her six eyes, unsure of which one to look at.

"How old are you? This is a bar, in case you haven't noticed." Yuuki pointed out as she held up her hand. "Gonna need to see some ID before you even sit down."

Quick as a flash, he shoved his hand into her face, bringing with it the distinctive black gleam of a Quinque Steel knife.

"Money from the register. Now."

"Kawaii." Yuuki wasn't fazed by the blade in her face, despite the presence of her signature Desert Eagle under her left arm at that very moment. "You're just so _adorable_ , y'know that?"

"I said give me the money from the register! Now!"

Yuuki's hand hadn't moved the whole time, but now she slowly reached for the blade and boldly grasped it, unconcerned by the pain and her own blood that started leaking down the blade and her wrist... Until the sound of straining metal reached their ears and her hand minutely shivered for a moment, the two of them still grasping the respective ends of the weapon until Yuuki smirked and effortlessly pulled it out of his hand by the crushed blade and casually dropped it into the small sink for rinsing dishes. "Got a gun too? Got a couple neat party tricks to share next."

Nobody moved, and the guy was too stunned by her casually removing the lacy black half-finger gloves she was so infamous for wearing.

"I've worn these everyday since I was eleven years old. Yuuki isn't Yuuki without her gloves, y'know? And now... you _dumb_ motherfucker... just _ruined_ my gloves... Beyond repair."

* * *

"Mind telling me what happened?" Tobias regarded his oldest daughter, handcuffed to the restraint bar in the LAPD interrogation room as he sat across from her, not entirely sure how he should be feeling after the call from the Chief of the police asking that he come speak to her... Immediately.

"Some kid walked into the bar, looked way too young to even be there, so I called him over for ID, and he pulled a fucking Quinque Steel knife out and shoved it in my face, demanding the cash from the register." Yuuki replied, drumming her fingers on the surface of the table. "I crushed the blade barehanded, and he tried to shake the knife out of my hand, so it tore my gloves apart."

"Then why are you here in cuffs?" Tobias asked, noting the very strange sight of his daughter's bare hands. He had grown so accustomed to her black gloves for the past seven years that he hadn't even noticed their absence until now.

"Because I dumped a whole mag from Tarantula into his chest after I dragged him outside onto the sidewalk." Yuuki replied with a scowl. "They're not telling me why I'm being dragged in here, even though this falls well within our diplomatic immunity."

"Because of the extent of the attack's aggression." Tobias replied. "They want to make sure it won't escalate into a second attack."

"So now what? I'm stuck here until they say I'm calmed down enough to go back to work? The fuck?! That's bullshit!" Yuuki clenched her hands into fists, likewise scowling viciously.

"Are you calm enough to go back to work?" Tobias asked pointedly.

"Not if I'm stuck here."

" _Yuuki_. Are you calm enough to go back to work?" Tobias repeated sternly.

" _No_."

"Then I'll be right back with the keys and a coffee. Drink it, and I'll talk to the officer in charge of you. I'll bring Tarantula back home with me, I already saw it on the Chief's desk. Did they also take your knife?"

"No, didn't have it on me tonight." Yuuki flicked her hair out of her face with her scowl still firmly in place. "How's Rachael?"

"I came straight here when I got the call. I don't know." Tobias shook his head slightly as he stood up. "So, C-Virus changed your coffee preference. How do you take it again?"

"Still black. Old habits, after all." Yuuki chuckled slightly, though still felt a pang of worry for her twin being left alone at the bar like that.

* * *

"She discharged her weapon's entire magazine into the kid, Tobias. Diplomatic immunity or not, we can't just let her walk back out of here like that." The Chief of the LAPD sighed aloud as he briefly glanced at the large magnum sidearm laying unloaded with the empty magazine beside it, and the large slide locked back open. Eight spent shell casings, all .50 caliber Action Express, all Quinque Steel, were lined up beside the weapon belonging to Yuuki.

"So you asked that she calm down, I know." Tobias was seated in front of the Chief's desk, having already given his daughter her coffee, and was now set in his task to retrieve her gun from the Chief. "You and I both know she just wants to go back to work for the rest of her shift. It's not like this is an uncommon event for her to use violence, to any extent. She and Rachael gave up three days of work to attend to a BSAA operation overseas, so the least you could do for her is let her go back to work. I already told her I'd be taking her gun home, and she admitted to my face that she doesn't have her knife."

"See, I trust you with a gun. But not her right now. Go ahead and take it, but do me a solid and just take it home. Don't give it back to her tonight."

"I will leave it on her desk to do with it what she so pleases when she gets home from work." Tobias used his Telekinesis to retrieve the weapon, magazine and spent casings, fluidly loading the spent shells into the mag, then loading the magazine into the gun before manually closing the slide on an empty chamber. "She's unarmed, you of all people should know that the mere thought of it even occurring displeases me quite a bit. Let alone how pissed I am that it's actually happening for real."

"I wouldn't have called you if I had any choice in the matter. She's free to go as soon as she's calmed down. No crap from my guys, no paperwork, and no charges."

"I appreciate the cooperation, even if this was all a formality." Tobias tucked Tarantula into his suit jacket's inner pocket, where it bulged out the side of his chest as he stood up and shook the Chief's hand. "You remember the black gloves she always wears, right?"

"Never seen her without them, even on the show." Chief replied.

"The kid's knife destroyed them when the two of them were gripping the knife he'd pulled on her. She bought those with her allowance money when she was eleven. And they'd survived all these years until tonight. Now does it make sense why she put eight rounds into the kid for this to occur?" Tobias asked pointedly before turning to leave.


	59. Chapter 59

"You alright?" Sheva had heard about what Yuuki did at the bar, and was waiting for the twins in the foyer of the house when they came back. Right away she noticed that Yuuki's gloves were gone.

"Little shit tore my gloves to shreds when he tried to pull the knife out of my hand." Yuuki scowled briefly, but her expression softened when she realized who was talking to her. "How about you? How's your leg?"

"Still can't walk on it, but I can at least set it on the floor when I sit down." Sheva shrugged. "Mind if I ask what's so special about your gloves?"

"I bought them with my allowance when I was eleven. First thing I bought with my own money, never took them off unless I absolutely had to. And they've survived me and my bullshit for seven years..." Yuuki paused for a moment. "I guess they were just... part of me. Like... I wasn't completely me without them."

"I understand." Sheva nodded, glancing at Yuuki's hands for a moment. "They're the same ones that Val wears, right?"

"Same style, but not the same 'model' so to say." Valentine called from the kitchen.

"Hey, don't sweat it, Sheva." Yuuki shook her head. "I'll be alright for tonight. I know the store I got them from, I can get a new pair."

"But they won't have the same emotional attachment." Sheva pointed out.

"They're just gloves." Yuuki chuckled slightly. "It's like breaking a favourite mug, then finding the exact same one in a store the next day. Only difference is the little rips or chips are gone, and it's a lot cleaner than it was yesterday. Like going to a spa and coming back feeling fabulous, y'know?"

"That reminds me... I need to call Koko." Valentine called from the kitchen before he came wandering down the hall to join them. "Stop being cheeky, Yuuki. Sheva can't do the thing."

"What thing?" Sheva was briefly confused by what they were talking about.

"You wouldn't understand, it's hard to explain." Rachael giggled, well aware of what her siblings were referencing.

* * *

"Hey, Rico..." Sheva spoke to her Titan in their DNI a little later, just after Valentine went to see Koko about whatever their short phone call entailed. "Do you know what the hell they were talking about? What is 'the thing' they mentioned I can't do?"

" _Do you want the honest answer? Or the logical one?_ "

"Does it matter?"

" _It does, actually._ "

"Honest."

" _They've all inherited a power from their father that allows them to do something called 'Break The Fourth Wall'. They've never actually revealed what exactly that means, but apparently it's something they can't actually control like their respective Kinetic powers._ "

"Sounds fucked up." Sheva chuckled at the unusual answer. "So how did Toby get it?"

" _No idea, he never said how nor when he got the ability. Though I have noticed that Serenity can do it too._ "

"I don't understand it, but I at least get it enough not to question it anymore." Sheva sighed aloud for a moment. "On an entirely different note... You've been keeping track of things through my eyes, right?"

" _I always do when we're not together._ " Rico replied.

"Have you noticed how Yuuki's been acting since Tselinoyarsk?"

" _I have, yes._ "

"Anything coming to mind that would explain her strange edge?" Sheva hadn't failed to notice how much more aggressive Yuuki had been since Sunday, it was such a drastic switch compared to her usual problems with anger.

" _Only thing that would make sense for her would be... regret._ " Rico paused for a moment. " _I think she might have had a clean shot on Volgovitch when we were on the deck of the Nightfall... and she either didn't or couldn't take the opportunity to save you from being sent overboard. She's probably still coming to terms with the fact herself, hence the aggression that she'd had coming home almost immediately vanished when she realized you were waiting for her on the stairs like that._ "

"You were EMP'd, how the fuck did you learn that?" Sheva was surprised by Rico's insightful observation about Yuuki during the duel.

" _I got all of this before and after, respectively. She had the nearest Vulcan turrets aimed at Volgovitch the entire time, and what with the way we were beaten, she couldn't open fire in time due to her reactions being delayed by shock. And of course, her behaviour afterwards - both on the ship and here at home - lead me to create this theory with confidence._ "

"What about Rachael?"

" _Railguns stayed out of the way, otherwise just turning them to aim would've knocked me off the ship, let alone the shockwaves when they fire. She seems to be alright, in comparison. I will admit the loss of Yuuki's gloves may have simply been an unnecessary trigger to set off her emotions at that moment in time._ "

"Should I go talk to her?"

 _"Hang on... checking to see if she and Rachael are livestreaming."_ Rico replied, then after a moment added. " _They're not streaming, but they did announce that they're gonna be studying for the rest of the night._ "

At that moment, Sheva heard the sound of one of the twins' voices coming from the top of the stairs, sounding incredibly frustrated.

"I AM SO FUCKING HORNY RIGHT NOW! GODDAMN IT!"

It was then accompanied by a peel of the other's laughter and marching feet descending the stairs, so Sheva eased herself onto her crutches to at least determine which twin was so pent up...

Rachael.

"Going to see the boys?" Sheva couldn't resist teasing Rachael as she shrugged on her biker jacket and grabbed her helmet from the hook they hung them on.

"No, I'm gonna kick their door down. If Yuuki wasn't so quick to make fun of me like that, I'd have bent her over our desk by now." Rachael waved over her shoulder as she shoved her head into the helmet and left the house.

Making her way up the stairs, Sheva knew Yuuki would hear her coming, so she wasn't surprised to see Yuuki sitting with her feet up on their desk, her eyebrow raised expectantly, almost as if she was excited by her arrival. Rico's theory grew stronger in her mind with that subtle expression change on Yuuki's face.

"Yo." Yuuki smiled slightly. "I heard that last part of what she said."

"Mind if I ask you something, Yuuki?" Sheva asked, and Yuuki seemed to pick up that it wasn't casual chit chat, so she sat upright and spun Rachael's abandoned desk chair around for her to sit in it.

"Why do I get the feeling I'm back in the cop shop?" Yuuki asked warily as Sheva sat down and leaned her crutches out of the way.

"I was just wondering what's gotten you so on edge since we got back from Russia. Rico thinks it's because of the fight with Sasha."

"You mean how I had the bitch lined up the entire time and never pulled the trigger?" Yuuki closed all six of her eyes and put her face into her palms. "Gotta give the big guy credit for noticing it first... Been tearing myself apart since I had the chance to stop you from getting tossed off the ship, but never did anything to do it in the first place."

"So the kid you shot earlier today... was that just an outburst?"

"Makes the most sense, now that I think about it..." Yuuki lifted her head, idly sweeping her lopsided hair out of her face as she leaned back in her chair, lifting her knee to rest her heel on the edge of her seat. "I panicked, never thought to open fire, and you lucky little shit managed to get off with a broken shin and bruised ribs. And I was this close to cracking open a bottle of Jack." Yuuki held up two fingers to signify the close call to her comment. "Fuck, I just... It's..." Yuuki faltered, then sighed for a moment before tilting her head slightly in a way that Sheva instinctively knew was Yuuki's direct gaze hidden in the solid cyan glow from all six of her eyes. "You're family. And my family means everything to me. When you fell overboard, all I could see was the 'what if' images of you dying. I just... Can't. I can't lose family like that... Virus or not, it just kills me to even think about losing anyone like th..."

Sheva didn't even realized she'd moved until Yuuki purposefully pulled apart their sudden kiss, but her eyes all turned over to her Kakugan, and all of her eyes were locked onto Sheva's face.

" _You_ have a boyfriend." Yuuki pointed out in a very matter of fact tone.

"And _you_ have a harem." Sheva countered. "Don't be a dense protagonist like _every_ harem anime we've ever seen, 'kay?"

"Your boyfriend is my little brother. You don't seem to realize how awkward I feel right now..."

"Says the one into incest with her twin."

"You're not really helping my case, are you?"

"Should I be? Even I can tell what triggers your Kakugan like that. Val's goes off immediately, just like yours did, whenever I make a move on him. Besides, I already know what's making you hesitate like that. Val and Mr. Birkin did a couple tests on my blood and confirmed that I'm actually one of the rare individuals that's actually immune to the T-Virus. Your C-Virus was stemmed from T-Virus exposure, so I'm almost certainly immune to it too."

"And even Sherry's G-Virus?"

"Isn't the G-Virus a prototype of the T-Virus in the first place?"

"You're not wrong..." Yuuki's red and black eyes all averted to the side, and a faint pink flush was creeping onto her cheeks. "But this is still awkward for me, even if you're safe from being infected by any of us."

"Rachael went to see her boy-twins. Val's meeting with Koko for something about the ship. Toby's back at the base until eleven, and Rize's writing on her computer. Odin's out back, and both Kuro and Shiro went with Val." Sheva smirked slightly as she realized that Yuuki's fingers twitched at the same time her expression changed to a slight pout.

"Justify it as having no other options to get off, then fine. But you're too young to be part of my harem, sorry." Yuuki slightly smiled at the absurdity of her comment, but gently leaned closer to Sheva until their lips were less than an inch apart. "Just our little secret, and it's just to get off. Deal?" She whispered, already feeling Sheva's fingers clenching at the shoulders of her t-shirt.

But before either of them could make it any further, Yuuki's eyes snapped towards the door, detecting a faint sound of approaching footsteps.

"Someone's here... Front door. I got it." Yuuki already knew it had been a buzzkill, so her eyes returned to blue as she hurried downstairs, leaving Sheva to collect herself for a moment until she heard Yuuki opening the door, and for a very brief moment there was utter silence...

"MOM!"

Rize came hurrying out of her office at the worried tone to Yuuki's voice, and Sheva managed to hobble over to the door of the twins room to see an unfamiliar old man leaning heavily on a cane, with a suited man behind him, just out of her view.

"Sir Spencer, I thought you were still in Europe?" Rize asked warily as she held the door open to invite the old man inside, having Yuuki step aside.

"I have some news that Tobias needs to hear in person. How quickly can he be here?" Sir Spencer spoke in a gravelly, slightly strained voice that clearly gave away his age of almost 94 years old.

"Sheva, can you have Rico relay that for us?" Rize turned back to Sheva at the top of the stairs, nodding as she called to her Titan at the BSAA base.

* * *

"Sir." Tobias nodded his head respectfully at the sight of Sir Spencer seated in the family's black armchair when he arrived. "I was told you have something to share?"

"You feeling up for a bit of T-Virus history?" Sir Spencer smiled slightly. "Because it's directly related to what I'm here for."

"I presume Walter's here and has documents to go with this storytelling?" Tobias already knew the butler was present in the house, likely preparing tea for Sir Spencer in the kitchen.

"No documents, but he's here, yes." Sir Spencer shook his head slightly. "So, skipping the irrelevant details, there's a flower that produces the original base of the T-Virus, which became known as the Progenitor Virus. Only grows in a specific cave system in Africa, it was myself and James Marcus that secured the caves back in the late 60's for our research, and it later became the one in your veins now."

"I understand so far." Tobias nodded slowly, stroking his lip with his thumb, which Sir Spencer internally noted before continuing with his speech.

"The Progenitor Virus alone is limited in bioterrorism applications, since it requires synthesis with certain DNA to even become usable. My point is that even in raw form, the flower... it can still be used to conduct mass infection. And now to the reason I am here..."

"Let me guess, Syndicate did some digging, both literally and figuratively, and found the flowers?" Rachael's voice came from the front door behind her father, drawing Sir Spencer's gaze at the new arrival of the other half of the Darkwood twins.

"You are correct... Miss?" Sir Spencer raised an eyebrow curiously.

"Rachael. I'm Yuuki's cloned twin sister." Rachael indicated her eldest sister sitting on the stairs nearby. "Zenith got wind of an Africa operation earlier, so I came back to tell Dad, and heard enough to piece that together."

"Alright, so what do you want us to do, Sir Spencer?" Tobias asked, turning his gaze back to the oldest man he knew in the world.

"You might want to bring your wife and brother into those caves with you... And your new ship to make sure there's no further risk of the plants being cultivated ever again." Sir Spencer chuckled slightly. "I already know what those damned things can be used for, I've learned from the evils of my past sins."

"You were a scientist, then a businessman. You did nothing truly evil, Sir Spencer. The ones you left in control of your company's research are to blame. I actually know the original intended application of the T-Virus. It was to cure decaying muscle tissue and dead cells."

"Which it does do... Sort of." Sir Spencer laughed heartily with a warm smile on his face. "Only problem was Marcus and his damn leeches, royally fucked the whole thing up, that dumbass did."


	60. Chapter 60

"So what are we looking at here?" Valentine asked when he came home to find his entire family poring over a map on the coffee table, with Odin keenly reading a page of notes nearby.

"Syndicate found something they shouldn't have." Tobias spoke up without taking his gaze away from the map. "Sir Spencer gave us this information himself, so it's accurate and reliable."

"What'd they find?" Valentine approached to get a better view of the map, with Kuro and Shiro flanking him to likewise study the large paper.

"The source plant of the virus that the T-Virus was created from back in the 60's by Sir Spencer and his colleagues back in the day." Yuuki replied. "Thing needs ridiculously specific growing conditions, so the place they're only known to exist is in this crazy underground cave system in Africa that's sacred to the area's indigenous tribes. Umbrella went in to get ahold of the flowers way back when, if I got the gist of what Sir Spencer explained to dad."

"So are we going in as BSAA or as the Family?" Valentine narrowed his eyes slightly at the information she'd given him.

"Not sure yet." Tobias sighed. "These plants are the base of the T-Virus, but I'm pretty sure only Sir Spencer and the other old guys he went there with are the ones that actually know the precise location of these caves, let alone the flowers themselves. And since his old documents are long gone, we have nothing material as references to go by for evidence."

"I smell a big 'but' coming..." Rachael turned to regard her father, who nodded at her comment.

"But..." He smirked slightly. "He did confirm to me that there is another, old, very abandoned research facility that they built to research and study those flowers. So here's my dilemna..." He tapped the map with his index finger. "Swampland and a fairly large lake are home to the natives, cave entrance is on one side of their lake. Bunch of their sacred ruins protect the grotto where the flowers grow. Seems pretty straightforward, doesn't it?"

"But the Syndicate are involved now. So the natives are on edge, the caves and ruins are compromised and the research facility is now their stronghold in the area." Valentine nodded in understanding. "We're using Sir Spencer's old intel for directions and maps, but the rest is up to us to deal with. Am I far off?"

"Sheva's already pissed that she can't join us until her leg heals. Unless you want to try convincing her to take a leaf from Stella's book to match her arm." Yuuki snickered slightly.

"I HEARD THAT!" Sheva's voice came from the kitchen.

"So what's our current course of action?" Odin asked, looking up from his reading.

"For now, we're gonna use Big J to at least get eyes on the area on the surface, see if the Syndicate are doing anything out in the open, or if they have any ships on that lake." Tobias replied. "Until we decide which means we're taking to deal with the caves - BSAA or Family, I mean - then all we can do is run recon from the shadows."

"Let me guess, Rico's already on it?" Valentine turned to see Sheva entering the living room with the distinct clacks of her crutches on the floor.

"Yeah, he's surveying the satellite feed right now." Sheva replied, giving him a quick kiss with a smirk tugging at her lips. "So far there's nothing on the lake, and only the natives are in the area."

"Expand his search area to survey the marshes and the other side of the mountain. See right here? Look how close it is to the coastline. Have him check for any ships in the ocean around this general area." Valentine indicated the map with one hand, indicating the proximity of the lake to the ocean.

"He heard." Sheva nodded. "So... I know that look in your eyes, what are you planning to do to make me say yes for the leg?" Her smirk grew into a cheeky grin as she raised an eyebrow in a taunting slowness.

"Haven't decided on anything definitive yet." Valentine replied as he gave her a kiss of his own. "But I might want to make sure Rico's up to scratch after what Sasha's missile did to him."

" _I get a tune-up, and you get laid. Busy boy, ain't he?_ " Rico laughed in Sheva's DNI, earning a chuckle from her in reply.

* * *

Two weeks later...

"So... it's the second-best day of the week." Yuuki commented as she tapped at her phone while the family ate dinner. "Paycheque just came in, yours too?" Yuuki nudged Rachael's arm to show her their shared bank account's current balance.

"Looks like they both did." Rachael tilted her head to do the math since the last time they'd checked their finances. "You wanna divvy it up for the car and our pocket money while you got it open?"

"Already got it." Yuukki tapped at the screen to split up the money where it was intended. "By the way... how much do you have in cash right now?"

"Sixty bucks. You?"

"I got forty on me, and some spare change. Y'wanna go hit up the new casino with me and see what we can get with a hundred bucks?"

"Why do I get the feeling you're angling to do something with whatever we manage to win?" Rachael raised an eyebrow as she turned towards her twin's evasive expression.

"I may or may not have been eyeballing a certain thing for a certain obnoxiously colourful assault rifle..." Yuuki laughed, which drew out a chuckle from Tobias at the other side of the table.

"You do know I can get you just about any parts you want for your guns, right?"

"My gun, yo." Yuuki laughed. "I mean, shit, you can get one of them in half an hour. But I want to test my luck and see if we can win enough to buy it directly."

"And match it to the existing colour scheme, I would presume?"

"You expect any less of me?" Yuuki grinned. "I mean, the angled handguard I've had on her is great, but I wanna get a new thing for her."

"And what is this 'new thing'? And what does it pertain to your angled grip?"

"She wants either a Masterkey or a grenade launcher." Valentine chuckled. "Even Dad has restrictions for the 40mm shells he uses for Executioner. I'd say go for the shotgun, 12 gauge shells are cheaper and more versatile."

"I could get both, and just swap them for the mission I'd be going into." Yuuki shrugged. "Masterkey or M203, either way, we'll need to win at least four grand to get them both."

"And how do you know those are the prices?" Rachael asked.

"Koko."

"And what about the colour?"

"Seven hundred bucks. Each."

"So let me get this straight... You two are planning to go to the casino, hoping to get at least fifty five hundred dollars out of a hundred?" Rize sat back in her chair with a suspicious stare at her daughters. "And how quickly, dare I say you two succeed, will Koko be able to get you the underbarrels, then have them coloured to match your rifle?"

"We might need a bit more for bribes to rush things. But to answer your question, a week, at the most, for everything. From entering the casino to mounting one of them onto Calyptica." Yuuki replied. "But now I think we're gonna need to aim for seven grand at the least."

"If you two manage to win ten grand, I'll personally get ahold of your first loadout of 40mm and 12 gauge shells. But only if you get ten thousand in winnings when you two get back. Deal?" Tobias challenged with a smirk at his daughters plans.

"Deal." Yuuki and Rachael both stood up and shoved their hands out towards their father, who shook both of their hands at the same time, smirking at the cocky challenging expressions on their faces.

* * *

Arriving at the casino, the twins parked their bikes together and were just about to turn around when a valet came up to them from behind and cleared his throat to get their attention.

"Pardon me, ladies, may I take your helmets to the coat check for safekeeping?"

"Sure." Both of them shrugged, and handed over their headgear to the man, who then handed them two slips of paper with a number on them.

"These are for when you come to retrieve them. If you lose them, just speak to the reception desk for a reissue."

With that, they separated, with him going to the services area, and the twins going to the front desk to get their money exchanged for chips.

"Good evening ladies, how may I help you?" The receptionist queried with a smile.

"We'd like to get some chips." Rachael handed over the hundred they planned to use, and it was swiftly exchanged for a short stack of five twenty-chips. "Thanks."

With that, they wandered into the casino floor and briefly blinked the spots of light from their eyes at the dazzling displays and flashing lights.

"Wanna pick the first game?" Yuuki asked as she fished a handful of quarters from her pocket. "I got three bucks in quarters for the slots."

"I'm tempted to play some Blackjack." Rachael shrugged. "So let's burn through the coins first, then go for the chip games until we're all out. Sound good?"

"Fine by me. Here." Yuuki split the pile of quarters in half and handed one portion to Rachael. "By the way..." Yuuki suddenly switched to speaking Russian. "Security's already noticed us. Let's try not to start anything for once."

"For once." Rachael laughed before they wandered over to the slot machines and slid their coins into the slots before yanking the levers.

* * *

After their rounds of slots, they were fortunate enough to have won at least a few of their rolls, so they gathered their fistful of change each and wandered over to the drinks bar and ordered their very needed water bottles. They knew some of the tricks that casinos would use to keep people playing longer, and one of those tricks was to vent oxygen into the gambling floor to help keep people awake. But for them, it had a slight affect on the humidity in the hall, so they were in need of the drink for the rest of their time playing cards.

So, with water in hand, they wandered over to the first available Blackjack table and took two of their five chips, placing their $20 bet on the first hand.

Waiting for the dealer to finish shuffling the deck, Yuuki idly scanned the gambling floor, noting the locations of the security installations, from the patrolling enforcers in suits, to the stationary uniformed rent-a-cops, and even the security cameras - including the ones hidden out of casual viewing areas - until she noticed something that made her smirk before leaning over to Rachael and whisper in more Russian.

"See the heavyweight cyborg over by the bar?"

"Hard not to." Rachael replied in kind.

"Notice something familiar about it?" Yuuki asked.

"Not really. Kinda reminds me of Dad's T-60f."

"It's got taser knuckles. And the rent-a-cop to our left has a stunrod on his hip. Do me a favour and shoot Dad a text and tell him 'Security here is a bit sparky'."

"Just in case our dear friend 'Trouble' decides to make a visit?"

"Yeah."

With that, Rachael retrieved her phone and sent their dad the warning about the security attention and the unknowingly dangerous non-lethal armaments they possessed, just as the dealer retrieved the chips from in front of them with a croupier and dealt their first cards.

Yuuki had a start of 13, Rachael had 9, so both of them tapped their knuckles on the table for the dealer to give them another card each.

Sliding their cards to them, he inwardly noted who they were, but said nothing. He knew their own rules about their Spiderling fans meeting them in public.

"Blackjack." Yuuki's new card was an eight, giving her the necessary 21 to win the hand. Rachael's was a ten, giving her 19.

The dealer smirked slightly and slid back the winnings for the hand, inwardly noticing that they'd only bet one chip each from their initial pile. They were playing for the long haul.

"So, ladies, I'm trying to resist it, but my willpower is fading fast. I'm a Spiderling." He finally spoke up as he received their next single chip bets, again, the single $20 chip from each of them despite Yuuki's $200 winnings from the first hand.

"Hi, how's the night been so far?" Rachael smiled as she accepted her new hand of 14. Beside her, Yuuki had a natural 20.

"So far so good, though I couldn't help but notice the security cyborg is out patrolling the floor. Big guy's pretty cool and all, but seeing him on duty gives me the chills sometimes."

"What's his story? Is he only let out for the fun stuff?" Yuuki asked. "I stand by the way."

"Usually, yeah. But I heard my manager mention that some high rollers are gonna be arriving in a little bit, so they deployed the big guy to put on a good image, like 'we take security very seriously here' and such." He slid Rachael a card when she tapped for a hit, which game her a seven for a perfect 21. "Beginner's luck, eh?"

"Yeah, I'm getting that impression too." An older gentleman beside them commented as he sat down and chuckled. "Mind if I join in, ladies?"

"More the merrier. Means the pot gets bigger for each hand." Yuuki grinned. "So, I've gathered that this table's winnings are for five times the total of the bets, is that right?"

"Yup, that's the multiplier for the winnings for this table. One to my left is triple, and the one to my right is actually reserved for those high rollers I mentioned a minute ago. It's usually the ten times table." The dealer replied as he slid over Rachael's $200 in chips before shuffling the deck and giving all three of them their cards. Yuuki had 10, Rachael had 15. The old guy peeked at his for a moment and tapped for a hit.

"So what's the story about those high rollers? Did they just reserve the table beside you for the evening or something?" The old guy asked while the girls received their cards, getting 20 each.

"Not sure, all I know is what I've already said." The dealer played the man one more card before he held up his hand to stand, as did the girls already. With that, he concluded his own hand with an 18, so the girls won the hand, and since they were technically playing together, the pot - which was $450 since the old man had bet a nice $50 chip to start - went right between them with a chuckle from the old man.

"That's three hands you two have won in a row, you must have some really good beginner's luck going for you tonight."

"What can I say? Lucky Lady." Yuuki smirked knowingly as she turned to Rachael and asked in Russian. "Wanna give another game a taste of my sarcastic bolt-action?"

"One more hand, use this last twenty dollar chip." Rachael indicated the last $20 chip they had in the pile of winnings. "You want to do the honours?" She asked in English, and Yuuki shrugged.

"Luck and honour, Lady. Do me dirty." Yuuki joked in Russian as she kissed the chip before sliding the single chip across the table, which was quick to earn a chuckle from the old man again.

"Tell you what, I'll toss in eighty for this hand. See if that luck of yours is still going strong." He slid four of his own $20 chips forward, and the dealer chuckled too before dealing the cards for Yuuki and him.

Yuuki slid one card, still facedown, over to Rachael, who peeked at it, finding a 10. She nodded slightly in approval, then turned to Yuuki, who had already peeked at hers and gave no reaction.

The old man had already checked his cards and tapped for a hit, and when he received his card, he licked his lip slightly before glancing at the dealer, who was looking to Yuuki to see if she wanted another card or to stand.

"I stand." Yuuki replied without even blinking.

"Hit me." The old guy sighed in preparation for his card, he had 19 now, and if his card counting was correct, the next card would be a 2.

The dealer slid the card forward, and with a grin, the old man simply said. "I stand."

"Confident, are we?" Rachael noted how he didn't look at the card, and guessed that he was counting the cards since they'd first sat down. She and Yuuki both knew the theory, but weren't bothering to count the cards at all.

"I feel it in my gut on this one." He chuckled, and with that, they flipped their respective hands to reveal that Yuuki had an ace to go with Rachael's 10.

"Blackjack." Yuuki spoke before taking a sip of her water bottle, while the old man heaved a sigh of defeat at getting a 4 instead of the 2 he'd counted for.

"Here you go, you two off to play another game?" The dealer smiled as he handed over their $500 winnings to go with their existing $850 in chips. "Want me to give you different chip denominations to cut down the size of your stack?"

"Sure, thanks." Yuuki handed over the pile of chips, and after some sorting, got back the same value of $1350 in a more manageable stack of chips. "Take care."

* * *

After playing a mix of Poker, Roulette and another set of slots, Yuuki and Rachael decided to take a break and grab more water when two of the suited enforcers approached them with a rent-a-cop by their side.

"Excuse me, ladies, we've been monitoring your gaming since you've arrived, could you please come with us."

"Okay?" Yuuki and Rachael shared a glance, very confused. They hadn't cheated, and they hadn't caused any scenes, so why were they being singled out by security like this?

"Right this way." The enforcers gestured for them to follow, and they did, carrying their currently uncounted stack of winnings in a drawstring bag they'd been given by an attendant on the floor earlier.

Walking in silence all the way across the hall, they were surprised - and not very pleased - to find themselves standing back at the Blackjack tables... or more specifically, face to face with the now present high rollers that had reserved the ten times table...

Albert and Alex Wesker.

"Care to join us for a round of Blackjack, ladies?" Alex asked in such a smoothly casual way that it almost sounded genuine.

"Sure, just one quick question..." Yuuki reached into her Holster Bag and retrieved her folding drone. "Do you mind if I fire up a livestream? Me and my sister are internet celebrities, we haven't done our usual broadcast for the day."

"Oh, by all means, go ahead. I'm sure the management will understand, after all..." Albert was keeping up the friendly act too, so he nodded at the request for the camera drone to broadcast the game.

"I'll post the announcement, you do the drone." Rachael retrieved her phone and tapped at a brisk pace. "May I ask your names for the viewers?"

"Alexandra, and this is my husband, Albert." Alex indicated the man with the sunglasses he was so known for wearing.


	61. Chapter 61

"Toby..." Alice's warning tone made Tobias turn his gaze towards his adoptive mother, none too pleased by the ongoing livestream of his daughters playing Blackjack with not just Albert Wesker, but also Alex too. "This is a public broadcast, Motoko's already keeping an eye on the tech side of things, and they're not taking any risks over there right now. You heard Yuuki explain the sheer coincidence of them being there at the same time as the girls. If you go in there guns blazing, it'll destroy what little stability this still has."

"I know that. And I have no intention of going there. I was going to go out back and have a smoke before I change my mind on the matter." Tobias replied. "And since it's a casino, the risks of backlash or a fight are low enough that this is just stable enough to observe the broadcast and keep my mouth shut."

"Who knows? Maybe they'll win everything those two have? The table's got a ten times multiplier for winnings. And the girls already won three and a half grand before this went down."

"Good point." Tobias sighed loudly before walking outside and lighting his cigar.

* * *

After numerous hands, the Weskers and the Darkwoods were actually pretty balanced with their wins to losses. The twins had won back a total of $4,000 with their careful betting, while the Weskers were having particular fun with keeping up a casual conversation with the twins during the whole game, even answering questions that were brought up by the viewers, being read from Rachael's phone by an in-chat command that said the comment aloud with a text-to-speech program.

"So, I can't help noticing that the two of you are only making smaller bets. Am I right to presume that you're trying to get a large payout?" Albert noted as the girls made their latest bet of only $100 each.

"We're interested in buying a couple things in the near future, so we decided to come to the casino and see how far we could get with an initial pile of chips with a hundred in cash and about three bucks in quarters." Yuuki replied, checking her cards and tapping for another one to add to her 13. "What about you two? Why'd you reserve the high roller table for the night? Couldn't be just for us, now is it?"

"Tonight's date night." Albert smiled slightly, and Yuuki noted that the smile actually reached his eyes, judging by the crinkling at the sides of his shaded eyes. "It was her turn this week, so we wanted to see the new casino in town, test our luck a bit. Doing excellent so far, for sure." He took a sip of his nearby martini before tapping for a new card. "Mind if I ask what you were planning to purchase with your winnings?"

"Couple attachments for one of my guns and restock on ammo for it too. Set some aside for a car that we've been saving up for, and maybe talk to our aunt about getting ourselves another tattoo if there's anything leftover." Yuuki replied, then added. "Stand."

"Oh?" Alex chimed in with a glance at her cards. "I'm actually finding myself quite curious about your guns. I have to ask, AR-15 or AK?"

"Mosin Nagant M91/30." Yuuki replied cheekily. "Honestly, we own both. But I have a serious love-thing for my bolt-action."

"I'm an AR-15 girl, myself. Although I do love a nice bolt-action too. But, I cannot deny the excellent products of Heckler & Koch." Alex held up her hand to the dealer to indicate she was standing.

"See, they're damn good. Hey, Dad! How many H&K guns do you own again?" Rachael turned her head towards Yuuki's drone, since she already knew Tobias was in the chat, just not saying anything.

"Five. Two of which are a matching pair of pistols." Tobias' reply dinged in and earned a chuckle from Albert.

"It goes to show that a company with such a dedicated legacy would provide such excellent products." Albert commented as they all presented their hands, which Rachael was the winner of with 19, earning the girls the $6,000 worth of winnings for that hand. "Hmmm..." He checked his watch for a moment. "It's getting late, so how about we go all in for this last hand? Winning twosome takes all."

" _A swift death to those with honour, which never runs out when you need it_." Yuuki smirked as she recited the quote from Lucky Lady under her breath before shoving hers and Rachael's entire stockpile of chips forward. "Okay, let's do it. All in."

Alex actually seemed to be enjoying the new twist to their game, so she likewise moved hers and Albert's mass of chips into the middle of the table as the dealer shuffled the deck.

"Just one moment, while the total value of the chips are calculated." He spoke up as the scanner quickly confirmed the total of the massive pile of chips on the table. "For the final hand, the final value of the winnings after the ten times multiplier for this table... Is..."

He paused for dramatic effect, making the twins just slightly shiver with anticipation, whilst the two Weskers silently sipped their martinis.

"Two hundred and fifty thousand dollars."

Yuuki and Rachael both turned towards each other as they manifested their Kakugan at the same time.

The dealer, who was a Ghoul himself, calmly and professionally dealt them each their first two cards, then placed his own two at the ready, with his flipped up card a mere 4.

Yuuki checked her cards and found a natural 21 staring her right in the face. She glanced one pair of eyes over to the Weskers, who hadn't said a word since the final total had been revealed. Both of them were just reaching for their cards now, and Rachael nodded at her in a comforting way to slightly calm their nerves.

"Hit me." Rachael tapped her finger on the table, and the dealer gave her a card, which she checked and held up her hand to stand.

Albert stood with a simple shake of his head, and after a moment of consideration, Alex tapped for one more card, then seemed satisfied as well, standing.

"And now for the moment of truth... the winning duo is..." The dealer played his own hand and came to a 23, busting with a nine and a ten to go with his 4.

"Blackjack." Yuuki flipped over her cards, and immediately felt Rachael grab the back of her head by her hair and pulled her in for a frenzied kiss.

"Excellent game, ladies." Albert smiled slightly, since both he and Alex had 19's while Rachael had an 18. "It was quite a fun evening, indeed." He held out his hand for them to shake as they finally separated, and shook his hand in kind.

* * *

When they arrived back at home a while later with their crisp cheque from the casino - nestled safely within Yuuki's cleavage alongside her butterfly knife - the first thing they saw was their father sitting on his ice throne on the front steps with a very unexpected smoking companion sitting on her own ice throne beside him, smoking a particularly large cigar each.

"I thought you quit?" Yuuki asked cheekily as Alice took a drag from the cigar, which was much bigger than the ones her father usually smoked.

"It ain't over until the fat lady sings." Alice replied as she exhaled the smoke. "Besides, you two just about drove me up the fucking wall with that shitshow. Lady better get a damn good cleaning tonight after all that."

* * *

"Right, so... Finn. Teach me how to do the boom boom." Yuuki smirked at Finn as she idly examined a 40mm HE round in one hand, while her other was cradling Calyptica - complete with her new M203 grenade launcher, with matching colours - against her chest.

"Pretty straightforward, first let's load that shell into the tube." Finn was carrying his G36 with the XM320 grenade launcher that Tobias used for Executioner. "Slide the chamber open with your forward hand, yeah, like that. Next is to make sure the shell is pointed the right way. I know you're good at this, there you go." Finn smirked, since he had been present for her very first training session two years earlier, and knew she was capable with weaponry of all types. "Slide it back, same hand. Yup, now, grip your mag like your trigger hand, yup, there's perfect. Now, since you've already flipped the tube's sight into position beforehand, we're good to start with aiming downrange."

Behind them, Tobias was watching with a slight smirk on his face, his arms crossed over his chest. "You're smart enough to know better than to aim at anything too close, so when you get the hang of using the tube, you'll be able to get away with both longer and shorter range blasts."

"Ready? Aim using the launcher's sight, and adjust it as we go for longer shots." Finn indicated the folding sights on the front-left of her rifle's foregrip, and she nodded. "Alright, two fingers on the forward trigger, keep it on target until we get a feel for the arc of the tube's trajectory."

With the distinctive, iconic thumping sound, the rifle in her hands kicked back into her shoulder and lobbed the 40mm shell downrange at the distant cinderblock wall, blowing up right at the base with a cascade of broken pieces and a cloud of dust.

"Aimed a bit low, that was mostly me." Yuuki explained as she slid the chamber open to let the smoking shell casing slide out and dropped to the ground at her feet. "That's what, 50 meters out, right?"

"Yeah, looks like it's performing great." Tobias replied. "You've already tested the Masterkey, right?"

"Yup, then I sent it to my guy for the usual dose of obnoxious." Yuuki patted the top of Calyptica's stock, clearly indicating the myriad of colours on her weapon. "I'm supposed to go pick up our new toys after I get in some more practice with the launcher here." Yuuki retrieved a fresh shell from the nearby crate. "Rachael's bringing the boys here so we can start breaking them in."

"You've piqued my curiosity." Tobias' expression shifted to curiosity, with a slight tilt of his head to the side. "Care to share what you two bought?"

"Pair of guns for each of us." Yuuki smirked, her tone playfully evasive as she loaded the new shell with ease and lifted the rifle back to her shoulder. "Two matched sets, to be exact."

FOOMP!

"Four guns? Interesting." Tobias' smirk hadn't left his face the whole time, but now it widened into a full grin. "Definitely my kids..." He chuckled to himself with a shake of his head.

* * *

 **A/N: I apologize for the slower updates, been having major writer's block as well as I had a good friend of mine visiting me for the past week. Had a great time with them, and they even got a rare picture of me that didn't look like crap, haha! #NotPhotogenic**


	62. Chapter 62

**A/N: So... yeah, I'm in college. College means studying, and classes, and less sleep than I would like... And less writing fanfics, and more writing essays and assignments. So i managed to find time to finish this chapter, which sat idle since like... November? I dunno anymore. It's done, that's what matters. Enjoy.**

 **Edit: Fixed a few typos that I missed.**

* * *

"So what're we looking at here?"

"The blueprints of the Darkwood family's house itself. Acquired through the contractor they hired to build it for them when they moved from New York City to Los Angeles after they blew up Raccoon City."

"So what's the point in getting these? If even _one_ of them are home, we won't stand a chance at any sabotage or infiltration."

"That's not the only plan being considered." Alex Wesker's voice came from behind the two men that had been poring over the building plans for the rather typically constructed home for the state of California. "Why infiltrate it when we can just assault it while they're right inside of the place."

"And how do you plan to do that?"

"Unfortunately the official method isn't as concrete as the house is. We're planning to attack it, and have yet to discuss _how_."

"You'd need a whole bunch of tanks to get through so much concrete and still be able to give them a run for their money." One of the men joked as Alex walked back out of the room.

* * *

"So what's the new toy this time?" Zen asked after kissing Rachael at the BSAA shooting range, joined by Zenith and Jake after being invited to try out the twins' respective new sets of guns.

"Too bad Dad already left, he'd get a kick out of these ones." Yuuki smirked as she unlocked the cases for the first set, which were clearly designed by Yuuki and not Rachael...

" _Why_?!" Jake spotted the guns in an instant, groaning aloud. "Why is this gonna even be a thing?"

"Why the fuck not?" Yuuki countered, removing both of the customized M500's from the foam cutout and sassily twirled them around her index finger in the trigger guards. "Besides, Dad made his obnoxiously long. I made ours just straight up fucking _obnoxious_."

The revolvers were sporting six inch barrels, and sturdy black rubber grips, but what made them stand out was, firstly, that they were gold plated - underneath was solid Quinque Steel, with a Titanium barrel - but second, the inlaid silver spiderwebs in just about every available centimeter of the gold. Likewise, each gun had an enlarged six-round chamber instead of the standard five-rounds like the ones on their father's guns.

"How long did these get polished for?" Zenith snorted at the dazzling gleam of the guns, quite amused by their design choices as they all donned hearing protection.

"No clue. Let's shoot them!" Rachael shrugged, taking one of the guns from Yuuki and moved to the firing line where boxes of .500 Magnum rounds awaited their newest additions to their arsenals, alongside the other gun case that contained their other new set of guns.

"I've never fired this calibre before." Zenith commented as the girls slid rounds into the chambers with obvious practiced movements, all three boys watching their fluid movements.

"I bet Toby fifty bucks I could survive one shot from The Beast once..." Jake smirked slightly. "I survived, but I dislocated my wrist."

"The Beast wasn't designed with humans in mind, smartass. Even I know that story." Zen chuckled as the girls closed the cylinders into place and cycled a chamber into position before raising the guns and tapping the butts of the grips against each other, props style before aiming them downrange and began to fire.

"What rounds are you two using?" Jake glanced at the metal targets for a moment before turning his gaze over to the boxes of ammo they were using.

"350 grain FMJ's." Yuuki replied as they both fired again. "Same ones that Dad uses in Fenrir."

"And what rounds do you plan to use in them?" Zen asked with a knowing smirk.

"Ragnarok's." Both girls replied at the same time. "Do we look like little bitches?"

"There's nothing little about either of you... Well, maybe how humble this one is... _Oof!_ " Jake began his cheeky comment by approaching Yuuki, only for her to swat him right in the stomach with the back of her hand.

"I am carrying a loaded firearm! back up, you smartass!"

"Good point." Jake grinned as he backed off, from both the teasing and his actual proximity to her as they finished shooting the six rounds and ejected the spent casings.

"Now that you're not at risk of being shot, Jake... You guys want to give these a go?" Rachael snickered as she reloaded hers while Yuuki left hers empty to instead go for the other set of guns she'd bought for them.

"Time to get naughty with a shotty. Heh heh." Yuuki grinned as she lifted the lids and produced one of the two custom M870 Marine Magnum's inside, customized just like their father's own iconic shotgun, save for the red writing along the barrel his had, checking it over as Rachael continued firing her revolver downrange. "One of you are more than welcome to try my revolver or the other shotgun while I use the big girl gun over here."

"870 reasons to trust this masterpiece of a weapon." Jake took the offer for the other shotgun and joined her in loading them with shells. "8 in the tube and one in the chamber, right?"

"Seven in the tube." Yuuki shook her head slightly as she finished loading hers. "Shell rack on the side holds five."

As they fired, none of them noticed Valentine approaching with Kuro and Shiro by his side. It wasn't until they took a break that they realized he was standing behind them.

"Sup?" Rachael smirked at Valentine's own amused expression as they removed their hearing protection to talk to him.

"Dad mentioned you two brought your new guns to the range, I wanted to see what you got. I've been tempted to buy one for Sheva as a gift."

"I say you just ask what she wants. She seems to be like Dad, just naturally talented with guns in general." Yuuki shrugged. "Betcha five bucks she'll just tell you straight up what she wants."

"I've caught her browsing the armouries here in the base at least twice." Shiro pointed out. "She isn't hiding her fondness for guns at all, so why don't we surprise her with one together?"

"Agreed. We could ask Rico if they ever talked about guns for her." Kuro noded in agreement. "Shall I?"

"She's with him right now, doing some training exercises at the staging grounds at the other end of the base." Valentine shook his head, glancing in the general direction of the distant grounds.

"Or we leave out one or two of Dad's Guns & Ammo magazines and see what she's checking out." Rachael suggested, then turned to Yuuki for a moment. "Wait, you smell that?"

"Hi Mom!" Yuuki turned her head to find Rize nearby, and judging by the lingering scent of smoke around her, she had ignited her Pyrokinesis just moments ago.

"How would you girls like to meet your grandfather with me tonight?" Rize's tone hinted she wasn't impressed by something, and they all deduced she'd had a phone call from or about her father, whom they all at least knew she didn't get along with.

"Why tonight?" Yuuki tilted her head to the side, clearly confused.

"Three guesses as to who just landed at LAX." Rize frowned slightly.

"Fuck. And why do I get the feeling he'd asked for us specifically?"

"He asked for _you_ , specifically, actually, Yuuki." Rize shook her head. "Sorry boys, family bullshit. He's not the most stellar of individuals, and he only speaks Japanese."

"He's also a Ghoul, right?" Jake asked, and Rize nodded.

"He's been in prison for twenty five years. Cochlea, it's a Ghoul prison. My question is was he released, or did he escape?"

"Didn't Uncle Kaneki destroy the prison or something?" Rachael asked, but Rize shook her head.

"Attacked it with Aogiri Tree, didn't bother with the old cellblock where my father was located. Wasn't the objective of the assault, so it was deemed irrelevant." Rize explained. "The prison was returned to full operation within a few months of the assault."

"What's his Ghoul threat rating?"

"Double S. You can easily kill him, but I'd rather we held off until he starts shit, rather than starting it ourselves."

"No promises." Both twins replied in unison, speaking in utterly deadpan voices.

* * *

"Right, before we start, he's a traditionalistic, uptight prick. So try not to get offended by his choice of wording unless it's obvious he's insulting you. He never told me what he wanted to speak to us about, so I will be in the dark as much as you two are, alright?" Rize reminded her daughters as they prepared coffee in preparation for his arrival. Tobias, who was also able to speak Japanese, was with them, as well as Sheva, who had Rico to assist with translations via their DNI. But they all knew Valentine wasn't far away and had no doubts he was eavesdropping.

"Doesn't sound like much of an issue, if you ask me. I still remember what it was like living with my parents before I moved in with you guys." Sheva pointed out.

"True, but this man has been incarcerated since Rize came to the US." Tobias pointed out as well. "And if he's as uptight as Rize is leading us to believe, he's not going to take kindly to us meeting him together like this, even after specifically requesting to speak with the girls and Rize."

"I don't give a shit, personally. I'll push my patience as it already is by hearing him out. He starts shit, I end it. Super simple if you ask me." Yuuki commented as she leaned back into her lazing pose against Rachael's shoulder.

"Agreed. I honestly have more important things to be doing than listening to an old cranky convict." Rachael nodded. "Even if he's my grandfather."

"Such as?" Yuuki tilted her head upwards slightly to regard her twin shrewdly.

"I can thing of dozens of things more thrilling to do than talk to him." Rachael replied with a smirk, just as the doorbell rang to signal his arrival.

"Is he seriously using the doorbell?" Tobias sighed, standing up to answer his arrival, only for Rize to hold up a hand to halt him.

"I'll do it. Trust me."

"Okay." Tobias held up both hands slightly and shook his head, retaking his seat in the end seat of the couch that wasn't occupied by Yuuki's raised legs.

Rize opened the front door after a brief moment of collecting herself, coming face to face with her father, Matasaka Kamishiro. Standing with his hands clasped behind his back, he was wearing a crisp buttoned up shirt with slacks, and had a black tie, with his hair cut short and his facial hair trimmed, clearly fresh from the barber in how precisely kept it all was.

"Father. Come in." Rize stood aside to let him enter, which he did with a slight bow of his head before glancing in the direction that he could smell a human.

"I smell a human." He spoke in Japanese, unaware that everyone could hear him.

"And I hear a smartass!" Sheva called back in surprisingly fluent Japanese, walking around the corner of the living room with her arms crossed. "So I would appreciate you dropped the attitude."

"Hmmm... I see." Matasaka narrowed his gaze at her, his eyes traveling from her face to her arm and briefly to her leg before snapping his gaze towards Rize. "I was under the impression your daughter was older than this."

"I'm not her daughter, asshole." Sheva scowled. "You don't require details, that's all you're going to get about me of any importance."

With that, her point made, she turned and left to find Valentine, to which Rize felt was the polite course of action to take by removing herself for both calming down and for subtle safety reasons, in case a fight broke out and she was targeted by Matasaka for 'food'.

"Well, now that that's settled, follow me. Your granddaughters are waiting for you." Rize gestured for him to follow her into the living room, to which he was met by the sight of his twin granddaughters and son-in-law seated on the couch. The sight of Rachael in particular drew his gaze for a noticeably longer moment before he knelt at the side of the coffee table and clasped his hands in his lap.

"Fucking traditionalist..." Rachael had been watching his every move, and hadn't failed to notice his extended stare at her in particular, and was thankful for her solid scarlet eyes not giving away the fact she'd been watching him like a hawk. So of course she muttered under her breath in Russian as he knelt at the table.

Tobias glanced over at the comment, but said nothing.

"Floor's yours, why'd you come all the way to LA?" Yuuki spoke up in Japanese, barely even turning her head towards her grandfather as he gingerly accepted the coffee that was waiting in front of him.

"I have heard rumors of your fame, I wanted to hear about it myself... And to finally meet my granddaughter in person."

"Ssss." Yuuki turned her head to him, hissing the S phonetic. " _Plural_."

"No, granddaughter. _Singular_." Matasaka countered. "You came from my daughter's womb, you are my granddaughter."

"Then you can fuck right off back to Japan." Yuuki shot bolt upright and towered over Matasaka, her hands on her hips. "Rachael is my twin _sister,_ and if you can't respect that, then you need to leave... and never come back."

"I don't know who this Rachael is, and frankly, from what I've heard, you are an only child with an illegally created clone of yourself..."

 _WHAM!_

With a hefty kick, Yuuki spun on her heel to connect her foot with the side of Matasaka's head, knocking him to the floor, even as Rachael stood up and placed a hand onto her shoulder to stop her from doing anything further.

"LEAVE MY FUCKING HOUSE BEFORE I TEAR YOU IN HALF YOU PIECE OF SHIT!"

"Yuuki!" Rize held up a fireball which immediately made both girls go pale and take an instinctive step away from the flames. "Enough."

"But he..."

" _Enough_." Rachael repeated the command, giving her twin's arm a firm squeeze. "It's fine."

"Bullshit! It's not _fine_!" Yuuki spun around to face Rachael. "You're _not_ my clone! You're my sister!"

"I know that. He doesn't. So it's fine." Rachael repeated in Russian. "Let it go."

"You know I can't do that."

'Let it go, Yuuki." Tobias turned towards his oldest with a stern tone, also speaking in Russian. "He got what he came for, you two can go now. Leave it to me and your mother to settle things."

"But..." Yuuki glared at Matasaka lividly, but Rachael tightened her grip even further and started to pull Yuuki towards the stairs.

"You've both said and done enough. Let's go." Rachael succeeded in leading her away, all the way up to their room and pointedly slammed the door loud enough to be audible from downstairs.

The moment they were in their inner sanctum, Yuuki rounded on her twin with a scowl. "WHY THE FUCK DID YOU JUST STAND THERE AND TAKE HIS SHIT LIKE THAT!?"

"Because it wasn't worth fighting about. I've heard that same ignorant bullshit enough times to just not engage them anymore. Hey. Look at me." Rachael cupped her hands against Yuuki's cheeks, making sure her captive twin gave a small nod of confirmation before she continued. "He's gotten what he came for, he can fuck off now. _You_ , on the other hand... are going to eat me out, then I'll do the same for you. Then we'll stream. Okay? _Okay_. Pants off."


	63. Chapter 63

"You are treading on very thin ice with us right now, Matasaka." Rize glared at her father lividly the moment the girls had left. "Rachael is my daughter, whether you like the fact or not. And she deserves to be respected as such."

"And you got what you came for... well, at least on the surface anyway." Tobias pointed out as he shoved a cigar between his teeth and flipped open his lighter before looking Matasaka in the eye. "So are you going to come clean about why you're really here, or am I going to find out through other means?"

"I wanted to meet my actual granddaughter, since I've heard about her popularity back in Japan. I see no reason for such hostilities for an abomination."

"Is that so?" Tobias lit his cigar before continuing with his next question. "You know what I do for a living, do you not?"

"BSAA. I've heard that much at least." Matasaka replied with a frown.

"And what about your granddaughters? Both of them, I should point out." Tobias glanced up with a frown of his own.

"Internet celebrities, and I would assume by the firearms under their arms that you've inducted them into your ranks as well?"

"Exactly. So be thankful that you got away with just a kick to the head. And I will be looking into your visit here, which I don't believe for a second that it was just to see Yuuki and Rachael." Tobias' tone took on a steely edge. "So if you value your life outside of any prisons, I highly suggest you come clean while you can still speak to me face to face, Matasaka Kamishiro."

"I came to see my granddaughter." Matasaka lifted his chin with a firm glare on his face. "Though I wish you good fortune on your investigation otherwise, my son."

" _Hmph_. My father was decapitated with a 12 gauge shotgun." Tobias took a drag from his cigar. "I _am_ a father, I don't have one."

"So I've heard. If you were my child, you wouldn't be behaving in this manner for certain."

"You're from Tokyo. I'm from Moscow. Don't start preaching family values to me. I'm done here..." Tobias stopped speaking in Japanese, instead swapping to Russian to address Rize. "I'm sick of his attitude, gonna go fill Valentine in on what was said. I know he's listening through the vents with Sheva."

"Alright, I can handle him on my own from here." Rize replied in kind before turning her attention back to her father, who had showed no signs of comprehension of the short exchange. She switched to speaking in Japanese again after Tobias had left the room and descended to the basement, calling for Valentine's attention as he went.

"Be honest with me... Who released you from Cochlea?"

"The CCG released me, took me from my cell with armed guards, gave me clean clothes and escorted me off the premises to an employment agency, which gave me a job at a cafe called Anteiku. I met with a man there named Yoshimura, who gave me the job on the spot. It was fine until I found out about Yuuki from one of the customers, who also mentioned you by name. I grew more curious as I began seeing and hearing more of her, and saved my money, invested what I could from my wages, and eventually had the means and the financial stability to embark on this trip to meet with you and her."

"And how long was this whole process?"

"Three years."

"And what I just saw leads me to believe you're strongly against cloning in general, not just my daughter herself."

"If that is what you think."

"It's what I saw with my own eyes, father. You've disowned her without even a second thought."

"Who's to say I have?"

" _I dunno, maybe the one you're doing it to?_ "

With an angry snarl, Rachael had somehow managed to return down the stairs without drawing either of their attention, and boldly grabbed Matasaka by the face with her claws at full length, easily sinking them into his flesh and dragged him along behind her towards the front door, utterly livid.

"I don't give a shit who you fucked to have Mom, I don't give a shit how long you were behind bars, and I don't give a _fuck_ about your political perspective, but if you have the gall to sit there, knowing I can hear your every fucking word, and still continue to spout that Syndicate-fed _bullshit_ , THEN YOU CAN FUCK OFF RIGHT BACK TO JAPAN AND ROT... IN... _COCHLEA_!"

The whole time she was speaking, she had been dragging him outside and around the side of the house, much to the concern of the rest of her family, who came following behind her, able to hear every word of her speech, only to watch her bodily throw Matasaka off the cliff at the end of the backyard with all of her T-Virus backed strength... and sprinted after him to dive off the cliff in hot pursuit.

" _RACHAEL_!" Yuuki tried to chase after her twin, but with a grunt was hauled backwards by Tobias' Telekinesis, forcing her to land flat on her back with a livid snarl before tilting her head upwards to stare at her upside-down father. "WHAT THE _FUCK_ WAS THAT FOR?!"

"Your own safety, believe it or not." Tobias replied, crouching down to help her stand. "You seem to forget sometimes that she is still you, at the very core. And I know you too well. She is too far gone right now to even recognize friend or prey... and unfortunately, your grandfather is her current target. Let it play out, then we'll go from there."

"This is fucking _bullshit_!" Yuuki threw her hands up in frustration, then flashed them downwards against her thighs before glaring towards the cliff behind her. "I know her better than you ever would, you know this."

"Unfortunately, I'm looking at her as your clone right now. She is you. I know you. And, for your own safety, I won't let you interfere. I know this is painful, Yuuki, you're not the only one that's being hurt by this."

"I'm gonna wait for her at the inlet... It's the nearest way back onto the shore from the bottom of the cliff." Yuuki bit her lip, glancing one set of her eyes at each of her parents, while the third was still locked on the edge of the cliff where Rachael had jumped.

"That's a fair compromise. _Go_." Rize nodded slowly, then tilted her head to indicate that her eldest daughter leave.

* * *

Rachael knew long ago that there was a shark breeding area at the base of the cliffs near their home, and as soon as she and Matasaka hit the water, her mere presence sent an invisible pulse of utter menace through the water, causing the gathered schools of sharks to scatter like proverbial roaches, all of them scared off by the rage she was radiating.

She wasted no time in launching towards her grandfather, triggering her Kakuja and ensnared his arms and legs within her eight long blade-like legs, extending her claws in her hands as she slashed, stabbed and tore into him in a blinding burst of blood and air bubbles, the latter of which quickly disappeared and ceased as his lungs filled with water and his own blood, until he finally stopped resisting, despite her continued viceration of his form.

She had no idea how long she kept it up, but the next thing she knew, she felt a resounding slap to her face, bringing her back from her haze, finding Yuuki scowling at her, both of them at the small hidden inlet they used to return to land from their backyard cliff jumps.

"Welcome back, did you have fun?" Yuuki arched an eyebrow pointedly at her twin's still dripping Scale Mail visage.

"I uh..." Rachael was still confused, unsure of how she even got back to the inlet, which even for them was several minutes away of a swim. "What?"

Yuuki heaved a sigh, very familiar with the post-rage confusion she was suffering from. "C'mon, let's go... I'll notify the CCG to find his body between here and the house."

The CCG never did find the body... or the pieces.


End file.
